Content Providers
Content Providers

Content Providers

MCN Announces Global Launch of allwords

Tokyo-based Mobile Content Networks (MCN), has announced that its popular mobile content merchandising program, allwords, is launching globally following its success in Japan since launching earlier this year. Initial allwords(sm) distribution partners will include Thailand’s AIS, DTAC, and TrueMove, Avea of Turkey, Scandinavia’s Tele2, and myGamma.com, BuzzCity’s fast growing mobile social network. MCN also confirmed that it will roll-out allwords in the U.S. as part of a commercial trial it is conducting with a leading mobile operator.

American Heritage for the iPhone

Tokyo-based Enfour Inc. and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company have announced the global rollout of the first iPhone and iPod Touch applications featuring the American Heritage dictionaries and other best-selling Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reference titles. This custom-built iPhone application features fully searchable and updated definitions, real-voice audio pronunciations, zoomable graphics, bookmarking, annotation and history.

Mobaho to Cease Broadcast Operations

Mobile Broadcasting Corp. has just announced that it will wind down operations of it’s Mobaho! satellite digital services by spring 2009. According to the press release the company face difficult market conditions for it’s subscription model in direct competition with the freely available 1Seg television offerings. Apparently the TU media (subsidiary of SK Telecom) partners based in Korea will continue operations. As Toshiba owns nearly 37% of the venture it is estimated a potential $250M write-down could affect the companies forcasted earnings for fiscal 2008.

Mobile 3D Avatars Join Broadcast TV Show

TV Asahi has joined forces with Artificial Life to pilot a so-called interactive mobile participation television program, titled ‘Hoshi-ichi Owarairyoku Test’, which is scheduled for a one hour debut on 14 June. The concept of this show, loosely translated, is a search for the planets (or at least Japans) funniest entertainer.

Legions of mobile users will be represented on-screen, live in real time as custom 3D avatars on a system that can apparently scale to animate 100,000 concurrent identities, will participate in the contest. What are you waiting for.. advance registration starts today!

Qualcomm Getting it's Groove On

A flood of press releases came out of Qualcomm in San Diego last week including the Adobe tie-up for Flash, a new widgets platform, we also found this Q&A with Paul Jacobs via Tech-on interesting. The company also announced the winners for their annual BREW developer awards and we’re somewhat shocked to see that not one company from Japan managed to bring home the hardware, as they have for the past four years running.

3G iPhone for Japan Via SoftBank Mobile

So the dawn of a 3G iPhone approaches on June 9th as Steve Jobs is widely expected to finally unveil the company’s next-generation mobile computing device. While there has been a predictable amount of speculation including certain parties jumping the gun – Oops – about the telco for Japan, we have an interesting theory. This is an update (with a twist) to our original scoop last November, as it does build on that earlier approach. Update 4 June: It’s Official..!!!