Mobile entertainment publisher Magmic Games announced an agreement with Vivendi Games Mobile to adapt a series of titles for consumption on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile smartphones. Per terms of the deal, Magmic gains worldwide rights to publish select Vivendi Games Mobile including Caesar, Crash Tag Team Racing, Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail and Surviving Hollywood. The smartphone titles are scheduled to debut by year’s end, and will be available via Magmic’s distribution partners as well as the Magmic.com website and its direct-to-consumer BlackBerry portal Bplay.com.

For more on the Magmic/Vivendi deal:
- read this release

With GPS available on more new mobile devices — some 130 million GPS-capable handsets are in use in the US — consumer demand for location-based services (LBS), such as navigation, is growing, according to a mobile-applications report by Telephia, a service of The Nielsen Company, reports sister site MarketingCharts.

Telephia reported that in the second quarter…

• Approximately 13 million mobile consumers downloaded a mobile application on their phone.
• While location-based services deliver highly personalized offerings such as friend-finding and other location-aware features, navigation represents the lion’s share of revenue.
• LBS accounted for 51 percent of the $118 million generated in revenue by downloadable mobile applications such as LBS, weather applications, chat/community, and personal organization tools.
• Networks In Motion (NIM) - an LBS navigation publisher for products, including Verizon Wireless’s VZ Navigator - secured a 27 percent share of carrier revenue from mobile applications and leads all mobile application publishers.
• Telenav Mobile, another LBS navigation publisher, is second with a 15 percent share of carrier revenue.

Favorable carrier deck placement for LBS applications and the bundling of navigation services with data packages have contributed to record high downloads, Telephia said.

LBS applications command a healthy price premium compared with other downloadable mobile applications. The average price per month for an LBS application is $9.23, compared with a range of $3.82-$5.41 for weather applications, sports, wallpapers/pictures, etc.:

The selling price for LBS applications is roughly 180 percent of industry average. However, overall consumer penetration for mobile applications hovers around 5 percent, compared with penetration rates of 7-13 percent for other downloadable content, like games, ringtones and premium SMS.

“There are hurdles that LBS publishers face, most notably the relatively low incidence of application downloads when compared to other mobile data activity,” said David Gill, Director of Mobile Media, Telephia. “Many consumers may not realize the utility of a navigation application on their mobile phone until they use it.”

Earlier this week, Sony Ericsson revealed a first glimpse of its new ‘PlayNow’ arena. This marks the latest evolution of the PlayNow experience, and highlights a new direction to provide consumers with a unique multimedia experience, both on the phone and via their PC, the company says.
Sony Ericsson introduced PlayNow in February 2004 as an easy way to pre-listen to and then buy polyphonic ringtones directly on your phone. The service has proved a hit with consumers and is now available in 32 countries around the world, with annual downloads through both PlayNow and Fun & Downloads having reached more than 200 million. Since launch, the scope of the service has expanded to mirror the functionality of Sony Ericsson’s phones, to include mastertones (MP3 ringtones), games, full music tracks, themes and wallpapers.
On Tuesday, Sony Ericsson announced its intention to further develop its PlayNow service and offer consumers “a unique mobile entertainment experience”. Roll-out of the enhanced PlayNow service will start in Q2 2008.
The next generation of PlayNow will enable consumers to access a greatly expanded range of content. But, the company notes, more content will only be relevant to consumers if they are offered interesting ways to search for, discover and get this content. By combining the power of the PlayNow catalogue with unique applications like TrackID, which identifies music tracks, Sony Ericsson says it will build an arena where users can experience a wealth of new content in different ways.
TrackID has already attracted millions of consumers around the world, and is currently recording more than 125,000 hits a day on a wide variety of Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The TrackID experience will be developed and integrated into the PlayNow content catalogue.
Consumers will be able to move from TrackID to the PlayNow arena with just one click, offering an instant way to first hear a track (for example, in a coffee shop or on the radio) and then get it to your phone. The PlayNow arena itself will feature TrackID Charts, created by consumers using TrackID around the world, and allowing you to see what songs other users are searching for and want to hear the most, both globally and in your own market.
The PlayNow arena will be an open environment which welcomes everyone, says Sony Ericsson. The current PlayNow catalogue will be expanded to offer a wider range of content, including hundreds of games from leading publishers, themes and wallpapers, as well as millions of music tracks and thousands of mastertones from both major and independent labels. Sony Ericsson says it will continue to expand the range of content as it evolves PlayNow.
Mobile games will remain a key focus within the PlayNow arena. In conjunction with a variety of partners, Sony Ericsson today offers an average of 200 game titles for each phone it launches. Sony Ericsson users download more games to their phones than users of any other mobile phone brand, according to figures from M:Metrics. Going forward Sony Ericsson intends to cement its number No.1 position in the mobile games market by making mobile gaming a key area within the PlayNow arena.
Consumers will be able to access the PlayNow arena from their mobile phone and their PC, enabling over-the-air downloads to the phone or side-loading of content from PC to mobile.
“With PlayNow arena, we are creating a unique mobile entertainment experience open to all,” says said Martin Blomkvist, Head of Content Acquisition and Management at Sony Ericsson. “We want to invite as many people as possible to be part of the PlayNow arena by removing as many restrictions as possible.”
The PlayNow arena will “embrace openness”, the company says, and will be compatible with a wide range of Sony Ericsson phones. It will also support MP3 and Windows Media DRM-enabled devices, regardless of manufacturer. In addition, PlayNow will offer a large catalogue of free content, so users can enjoy the PlayNow experience without having to make a purchase. And, the majority of the music catalogue will be offered in DRM-free format.
PlayNow exists as a collaboration with numerous partners. It already creates significant value through more than 100 billing/revenue share agreements with operators worldwide. At the same time, Sony Ericsson has existing agreements in place with major global and local content providers, enabling the development of an ecosystem that provides a unique experience for the consumer, and a business model where everybody prospers.
The PlayNow arena will launch in selected markets from Q2 2008, with continuous roll-out during the year.

The Asia Mobile Congress is happening next week and we at Mobile Marketing Focus are certainly looking forward to it! This is gonna be awesome conference with many of the top industry experts discussing about Google’s recent announcement of the Android platform and the Open Handset Alliance. If you want to get tickets, go to this link.

Update : We will be live blogging the event here as any breaking news is announced so watch out for this space.

A broad alliance of leading technology and wireless companies has today joined forces to announce the development of Android, which it says is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. Google, T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders.

The alliance shares a common goal of fostering innovation on mobile devices and giving consumers a far better user experience than much of what is available on today’s mobile platforms, the group says. By providing developers a new level of openness that enables them to work more collaboratively, Android will accelerate the pace at which new and compelling mobile services are made available to consumers.
With nearly 3 billion users worldwide, the mobile phone has become the most personal and ubiquitous communications device. However, the lack of a collaborative effort has made it a challenge for developers, wireless operators and handset manufacturers to respond as quickly as possible to the ever-changing needs of savvy mobile consumers. Through Android, developers, wireless operators and handset manufacturers will be better positioned to bring to market innovative new products faster and at a much lower cost. The end result will be an unprecedented mobile platform that will enable wireless operators and manufacturers to give their customers better, more personal and more flexible mobile experiences.
34 companies have formed the Open Handset Alliance, which aims to develop technologies that will significantly lower the cost of developing and distributing mobile devices and services. The Android platform is the first step in this direction - a fully integrated mobile ‘software stack’ that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications. Consumers should expect the first phones based on Android to be available in the second half of 2008.
The Android platform will be made available under one of the most progressive, developer-friendly open-source licences, which gives mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom and flexibility to design products. Next week, the Alliance will release an early access software development kit to provide developers with the tools necessary to create innovative and compelling applications for the platform.
Android holds the promise of unprecedented benefits for consumers, developers and manufacturers of mobile services and devices, the group says. Handset manufacturers and wireless operators will be free to customize Android in order to bring to market innovative new products faster and at a much lower cost. Developers will have complete access to handset capabilities and tools that will enable them to build more compelling and user-friendly services, bringing the Internet developer model to the mobile space. And consumers worldwide will have access to less expensive mobile devices that feature more compelling services, rich Internet applications and easier-to-use interfaces - ultimately creating a superior mobile experience.
“This partnership will help unleash the potential of mobile technology for billions of users around the world,” says Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. “A fresh approach to fostering innovation in the mobile industry will help shape a new computing environment that will change the way people access and share information in the future. “Today’s announcement is more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’ that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.”
For T-Mobile, René Obermann, CEO of parent company Deutsche Telekom says:
“As a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, T-Mobile is committed to innovation and fostering an open platform for wireless services to meet the rapidly evolving and emerging needs of wireless customers. “Google has been an established partner for T-Mobile’s groundbreaking approach to bring the mobile open Internet to the mass market. We see the Android platform as an exciting opportunity to launch robust wireless Internet and Web 2.0 services for T-Mobile customers in the US and Europe in 2008.”
HTC Corp CEO Peter Chou comments:
“HTC’s trademark on the mobile industry has been its ability to drive cutting-edge innovation into a wide variety of mobile devices to create the perfect match for individuals. “Our participation in the Open Handset Alliance and integration of the Android platform in the second half of 2008 enables us to expand our device portfolio into a new category of connected mobile phones that will change the complexion of the mobile industry and re-create user expectations of the mobile phone experience.”
For Qualcomm, CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, Chief Executive says:
“The convergence of the wireless and Internet industries is creating new partnerships, evolving business models and driving innovation. We are extremely pleased to be participating in the Open Handset Alliance, whose mission is to help build the leading open-source application platform for 3G networks. The proliferation of open-standards-based handsets will provide an exciting new opportunity to create compelling services and devices. As a result, we are committing research and development resources to enable the Android platform and to create the best always-connected consumer experience on our chipsets.”
Last but not least, Ed Zander, Chairman and CEO of Motorola comments:
“Motorola has long been an advocate of open software for mobile platforms. Today, we’re excited to continue this support by joining Google and others in the announcement of the Open Handset Alliance and Android platform. Motorola plans to leverage the Android platform to enable seamless, connected services and rich consumer experiences in future Motorola products.”
Other founding members of the Open Handset Alliance include China Mobile, eBay, Intel, KDDI, LG, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung and Telefónica.
We’ll have more on Android as the story unfolds.