GAYmobile

GAYmobile is the name of a new mobile-network provider that is targeting homosexual subscribers in Denmark.

GAYmobile is offering services that are gay all the way and 25% of the profit will be channeled back to the gay community via a special fund called GAYtrust, according to the CEO Thomas Bilgram who is also the head of Copenhagen Pride.

GAYmobile's service line - called HOMOBILE - might soon be offering a wireless dating service as well as subtle ringtones that indicate the users sexual preferences. [via Guerilla Innovation]

Disney courts controversy with move into UK mobile market

Times Online reports that the Walt Disney Company has started to recruit executives for the possible launch of a mobile-phone company next year.

"Headhunters acting for Disney have approached potential managers working for existing mobile-network operators. The move apes an initiative under development in America where Disney is working with Sprint, a leading mobile company.

Disney would be risking controversy by entering the mobile market in Britain because its service could be seen as appealing to children; the UK mobile-phone industry has agreed not to market explicitly to children for fear they are more likely to suffer from prolonged exposure to radio waves.

However, millions of under-18s in Britain use mobile phones, making the “no marketing” stance somewhat irrelevant.

In America, the company has presented Disney Mobile as a service for families, but critics suggest many of its characters would inevitably appeal to young children.

Disney declined to confirm its plans. In a statement from its internet group, it said: “We constantly look at business opportunities in other markets around the world, but there are no announcements to be made regarding the UK.

Disney already runs a website, Disneymobile.co.uk, offering ringtones, wallpapers and games for mobile phones."

Nature Calling

The website of the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safetey is offering free ringtones from the wild, all belonging to endangered species. Take your pick between the African Elephant, a Great Panda, a Hyazinthara (a sort of Brasilian parrot), a Wolf, a Siamang or a Hyena.

All sounds come from the Archive of Animal Voices at the Museum of Natural Science/Berlin and therefore exist in high quality.

Related:

-- Downloading animal-noise ringtones for a good cause

-- More on animal noises made in the wild

-- "gorilla beating its chest" ringtone, courtesy of The British Library

Ireland puts Monthly cap on ringtones for children

Children under 18 will not be able to spend more than €10 ($ 12.-) a month on mobile-phone ringtones and other subscription services when a new code comes into force this week, reports Ireland's Post.

This follows concerns about the alleged misleading promotion and cost of subscription services such as mobile phone ringtones, logos and wallpapers.

Regtel, which regulates premium rate phone lines such as competition lines and mobile phone ringtones, has just published a new code of practice, which will come into force on Tuesday. Previously, only children under the age of 16 were protected under the Regtel code. This age limit has now been increased to 18.

First over-the-air music download store in the US

Cellular News reports that Sprint Nextel is poised for a full-scale launch of its high-speed wireless network, a service that will include the first over-the-air music download store in the US.

"The newly merged cell phone company was planning a series of major announcements for Monday morning.

In advance of the announcement, Sprint Nextel distributed review units of a new cell phone equipped with EV-DO, the technology with which the company's network is being upgraded to offer speedier Internet connections and other data services".

According to EVDO Blog, Sprint will be calling the EVDO phones, Power Vision Phones. The first 2 Power Vision phones rumored to be available are the Samsung MM-A940 and the Sanyo MM-9000. Sprint is expected to announce a huge EVDO rollout along with the announcements of these Power Vision phones.

The Samsung handset also featured a menu icon for music that leads to a service named "Sprint Music Store" offering downloads from a wide array of genres for $2.50 a song. The purchase entitles a user to download a copy of the same song to a computer as well.

Mobile phones open new front in war on music piracy

Children with the latest mobile phones are posing a new threat to sales of recorded music by illegally sharing songs, according to music industry leaders, reports The Guardian.

"The spread of mobile phones capable of carrying hundreds of easily transferable songs has opened a new front in a war against piracy. Illegal downloading has already cost the British music industry £650m in the past two years.

Technology known as Bluetooth allows songs to be transferred between handsets at the touch of a button - but only one at a time. A greater threat stems from the falling price and expanding capacity of removable memory cards which allow hundreds of songs to be transferred simply by sharing the card. Both techniques are being used by schoolchildren.

The chief executive of a company planning to sell mobile phone downloads said the piracy problem caused by mobiles could be worse than that caused by the internet. Martin Higginson, the chief executive of Monstermob, told Music Week: "If piracy on the internet was a tidal wave, this is going to be a tsunami."

... Steve Mayall of industry analyst MusicAlly, said: "The difference with phones is that you can swap songs without a computer. That's the kind of file sharing the music industry should be worried about."

The fears come as the digital music booms. This year UK single track legal downloads increased tenfold to 10m."

Halloween Horror Movie Classics will ring on your cell phone

With Halloween right around the corner, Lagardere Active North America (LANA) is bringing fright to mobile phones with two horror movie classics --" Halloween" and "Night of the Living Dead".

The exclusive license will allow users to download everything from wallpaper and video clips, to logos and video ringers on your cell phone from these scary movies - available from Cingular, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, and Boost Mobile.

... For all horror movie buffs, exclusive content (available for only a few months) include wallpaper of zombies walking in the night from Night Of The Living Dead, as well as wallpaper of the famous pumpkin and knife poster and the classic theme song to Halloween. [press release]

Psssst, don't forget to dress up your cell phone...

Dhaliwal Brown’s “The Future of Mobile Music”

DhaliwalBrown’s “The Future of Mobile Music” analyzes the growth of the mobile music market in 38 countries.

The report finds that mobile music is the most valuable mobile content market globally, generating gross revenues of $4.4 billion in 2005, rising to nearly $6 billion in 2006. Mobile now accounts for nearly 15% of the entire music market globally. [Press release]

DhaliwalBrown identifies five key market drivers and five key market inhibitors.

Five Key market drivers:

-- The emerging markets
-- Subscription based entertainment channels
-- Operators' Flat rate pricing
-- Niche segments
-- Record label commitments

Five Key market inhibitors:

-- Educated users turning to ripping music from their CDs for mobile usage
-- Lack of content control by the mobile operators
-- Record labels using mobile as a sales rather than marketing channel
-- Record labels distributing mainstream offerings and cannibalize existing revenues

Is there a Mad Dog in Your House?’ competition

To mark the launch of the new site, Mad Dog Mobile is also on the hunt for the country’s wildest, wackiest creatures with the ‘Is there a Mad Dog in Your House?’ competition.

Teens with mad dogs in their lives can take a picture, record his howl or film a video and post it to the site at www.maddogmobile.com by October 31st, 2005. The best clips will be turned into mobile ringtones, videos and screen savers for the Mad Dog online community to download to their phones.

[via Telephony World]

More engine tones

AME info reports that Infinity recently announced that it will be offering FX and G Sedan and Coupe ringtones on its website free of charge.

"The ringtones will allow all Infiniti enthusiasts to experience the engine roars of both the FX and G Sedan and Coupe whenever they receive a call or message."

Other engine tones:

-- LG's Sports Car Mobile Phone with Vroom Vroom Ringtone - the LG M4300 shaped like a car, has an interesting (and obvious) featured missed out by most; it comes with a "car starting engine ringtone, to give users more speedy vibe".

-- Aston Martin engine as a ring tone - A limited edition of Aston Martin and Motorola co-branded handsets, the Motorola V600, are being made. They will be branded with the Aston Martin logo and feature the sound of an Aston Martin engine as a ring tone".

-- Formula 1 engine ringtone - Siemens, who has partnered with the Formula 1 racing series since 1998, will premiere official Grand Prix cell phones in Barcelona. Available as a limited edition, the two new models (S55 S and C55 C) will be configured with distinctive Formula 1 motifs, the F1 logo as a screensaver, and engine-sound ringtones. (2003)

Crazy Frog goes gaming

Another first for that crazy frog! Number one on the charts for 4 straight weeks last summer, beating Coldplay's new single, first ringtone character made into a plush toy, and now Crazy Frog has gone gaming!

According to Pocket-Lint, "Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest publishers will be distributing the Crazy Frog Racer game in the UK, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand and the export territories.

Crazy Frog Racer will be a wacky races style game that will supposedly appeal to all fans, young and old that really enjoyed that repetitive ringtone.

Players can either choose to play as ‘The Annoying Thing’ and D'Ding Ding their way to victory or take on the role of one of eight other unique playable characters and beat the frog at his own game.

Crazy Frog Racer is scheduled to launch in November 2005 for PC CD-ROM and PlayStation 2."

Related article: - Crazy Frog Leaps to Playstation

Ring tones--the new protest songs

News.com writes about ringtones as a political activism tool. [via Moco News]

"A political ring tone could as easily carry a Rush Limbaugh or foot-in-mouth John Kerry quote.

Yet either way, it has the potential of being an explosively viral phenomenon, a modern-day version of political bumper stickers or T-shirts. Music ring tones today are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars a year in sales, and in some cases, they far outsell the music single or CD they're based on.

... Activists say the soon-to-be-released Riot Tones, or other tools like it, will help political ring tones spread more quickly, by making it a simple process to get them onto most phones. Once the infrastructure is in place, nonprofit groups are likely to use ring tones as a standard part of their membership perks, some say.

Political ring tones took root in the Philippines earlier this year, after opponents of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gained access to a wiretapped recording ((dubbed Hello Garcia") of a clandestine conversation between the head of state and a top election official.

Related articles to Hello Garcia / Gloria Arroyo ringtones:

-- It is my voice on poll tape (and ringtone), admits embattled Arroyo

-- From ring tones to car horns? Only in the Philippines

-- Filipinos clamour for scandalous mobile ringtone

-- Ringtones express widespread disgust over (Ms Arroyo's) obvious poll fraud

-- Wiretapped Voice Latest Ringtone Craze

Other examples of ringtones used for political purposes:

-- Riot Tones

-- India. Patriotic Ringtones and Prime Minister Voice mail used in campaign

-- USA. Political ringtones from Ringtone JukeBox (image above)

-- USA. Jabbertones's political voice tones

-- USA. Presidential Voice Tones

3 makes mobile music available on PCs

Until now, customers buying tracks on their mobiles have not been able to access their music on other devices. With Mobile network 3's new ‘dual download’ service customers who buy their music over the air will also able to get a copy of their track online, for no extra charge, reports Netimperative.

They can then play it on their laptop or PC, transfer it onto an MP3 player, or burn it onto a CD.

3 believe that offering dual downloading as standard will provide an additional incentive to encourage consumers to buy more of their digital music over mobile.

3’s music service will sell tracks at a flat rate of £1.50, with each track available on both mobiles and also as a PC download. Customers buying a track over the air will automatically be sent a text message with a PIN code to access the same track as a PC download.

Boyz N Da Hood Play Ringtones and Musical Chairs

Virgin Mobile USA and Warner Music Group is set to sell exclusive Boyz N Da Hood ringtones and wallpapers on Virgin Mobile phones through its "First Dibs" program, reports SOHH.

The deal features 11 exclusive ringtones from the group's self-titled album and three wallpapers-one of which has been donated by the ATL quartet to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. For each logo wallpaper downloaded, Virgin Mobile and Bad Boy Entertainment will donate the net proceeds to the Children's Health Fund.

Two New Accessories from Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson has launched a speaker system and an FM radio adaptor for its handsets, reveals Cellular News. The Home Audio System enables owners of a Walkman music phones to enjoy their mobile music collections in full Hi-Fi sound quality. The Home Audio System MDS-70 is a phone cradle which connects to a set of speakers.

"Now you can enjoy your mobile music directly from the phone without the need to transfer files or build duplicate collections. The sound performance is just as you'd expect from a fully featured Hi-Fi," says Steve Walker, Head of Product Marketing.

The speaker stand will be available globally from Q1 2006.

TheFM Music Transmitter MMR-60 is attached to a Sony Ericsson mobile phone and can transmit music files from the handset over the FM radio frequency band. Menus in the mobile phone allow you to control the transmitting frequency at a range of up to 10 meters. Available in limited markets during December 2005, the MMR-60 will be released according to the legal requirements of each country.

Here Comes Virtual Samsung iTunes Phone

A new version of Mass Storage Synchronizer enables Samsung phone owners to use iTunes, reports Telecoms Korea. Tea Vui Huang, a software developer, released Monday Mass Storage Synchronizer 1.2 with support for Samsung Phones. Mass Storage Synchronizer is an Windows-based iTunes Add-on for Mobile Phones.

The program can be reached at http://www.geocities.com/tvhuangsg/massstorsync/ .

McDonald mobile coupons for a McFlurry

Today, McDonald's restaurants in Southern California have a new way of connecting with young adults -- through their cell phones. As part of an innovative promotion, cell phone users can send a text message code from their phones to receive an electronic coupon good for a free McDonald's McFlurry. Once the electronic coupon has been sent back to their phone they simply visit their participating local McDonald's restaurant and redeem it.

"The coupon code (Text "McFlurry" to 73260) will be displayed on busses and billboards throughout Southern California. Internet users can also access the coupon by visiting www.mobilestr33t.com/and can send free ringtones and wallpaper to their handsets.

[Press Release]

Robbie Williams special edition W800i Walkman Phone

T-Mobile and Sony Ericsson announced the launch of the Robbie Williams special edition W800i mobile phone that will feature an exclusive previously unreleased full track "Don't Stop Talking". Phoneyworld reports.

"In stores October 21st in Germany and Austria and in all other T-Mobile European markets on October 24th, the new W800i will give Robbie Williams' fans a chance to have a special mobile phone to hear and celebrate their favourite artist in a unique and exciting way.

Pre-installing a new unreleased track on a mobile phone is an innovative collaboration between an artist, a handset brand and a mobile operator and is a first-of-its-kind offering with such a global artist".

A word from Emily. Please note there is no link to the source of this story, a practice I've complained to phoneyworld about before.

Robbie Williams continues to innovate in promoting his music via cell phones. See articles related to other campaigns:

-- Let me entertain you... on your mobile phone - The singles from his new album are to made available to mobile telephone users two days before they go on sale on CD.

-- Robbie rings the changes - Badboy rocker Robbie Williams's concerts will be broadcast live on mobile phones around the world in a deal set to revolutionise the music industry

-- Robbie Williams becomes first artist to launch greatest hits album on memory card - a tiny stamp size gizmo that slots straight into a mobile phone to deliver music on the move.

Exclusive Cuts from Slum Village on Your Cell

Slum Village fans who can't wait until the group's self-titled album is released October 25 can now hear exclusive cuts from the album on their cell phones, reports Vibe News.

Zingy, the web site that offers downloadable ringtones, is showcasing a series of ringtones from the group. In addition, customers on Cingular, Nextel, Boost and T-Mobile can access the ringtones on their cell phones by sending a text message to 94649, with the word "ezup" for the current single, "Ez Up," "callme" for "Call Me," and "slum" for "05."

Celebrity Messages

Celebrity Messages provides authentic celebrity video and audio messages via mobile phones and email. Download Boy George's video e-card with "Hi Mom, I'm gay". That will get her attention.

Voices and videos are of the actual Celebritiess themselves not impersonators who may look and sound like them. All the Celebrities were great to film and added many personal touches to the finished product.

[via The Red Ferret ]

MTV hung up on Madonna

In a free access article, Variety reports that "ahead of Madonna's new album, "Confessions on a Dancefloor," MTV Networks will be previewing tunes and musicvideos, releasing ringtones and airing original programming, including interviews and a docudocu on her career."

Slum Village To Pre-Release New Album To Mobile Users

As the release date for Slum Village's forthcoming self-titled release approaches, the duo announces that the album will be available before its actual release date to mobile phone users. [via BallelrStatus.net]

Teaming up with Zingy, a broad-based mobile media company, Slum Village ringtones will be available through zingy.com starting with November 11, two weeks prior to the album street date.

.. "Once this opportunity was presented to us we had to take it," said T3, one half of the duo. "You can't beat something like this. The more ways our fans can hear us the better.."

Realtones Generate Bulk of Ringtone Revenues

Telephia has reported that 60% of mobile ringtone revenues are generated by realtones. Traditional mono and polyphonic ringtones comprised nearly 33% of the revenue share, while callback tones accounted for 7% of the total revenues. [via Cellular News and Moco News ].

"Telephia debuts an actual audience measurement report for ringtones in its new Mobile Audio Report, which tracks purchase activity for mobile ringtones, including traditional ringtones, realtones, callback tones, and voicetones from an opt-in panel of more than 30K wireless subscriber bills."

Samsung Rolls out Jog-Shuttle Music Phone

Samsung Electronics is launching a jog-shuttle music phone, the SCH-S370, reports Telecoms Korea.

"By controlling the jog-shuttle key on the side of SCH-S370, users can search or play music, shift among different items in the menu and search files without opening the folder."

Related:

-- Samsung Launches 128-Polyphony MP3 Phone with Jog Disk

-- Jog Shuttle and PictBridge functions

Text messaging allows for conversation at concerts

93XRocks Has a fascinating article on the role cell phones and text messaging play during concerts. A must read.

"As if there weren't already enough going on at a live concert, many fans can now spend the downtime between bands texting photos and messages to their friends in the venue via the big screen. In some instances, they can leave those homemade signs in the car, because the bands might even answer queries from the stage.

"We've done this at bars with 30 people and at shows with 40,000 people, and the dynamics are totally different," said Alex Campbell, CEO of Chicago's Vibes Media, one of a growing number of companies that supply venues with the software to do in-house text messaging.

"At a House of Blues show with 2,000 people, it's more of a back-and-forth conversation and interaction between people, like at a Las Vegas [show] with Hoobastank where we had a guy dump his girlfriend via texting and then all these other guys were trying to pick her up. But at a show with 30,000 people, it's just about getting your name up there and giving a shout-out and getting noticed."

Backstreet co-manager Kenneth Crear said the Boys, using a computer backstage, would scroll through messages that ranged from "We love you" to "A.J., will you marry me?" to "Brian, how are your kids?" With up to 2,000 messages coming in per show, the volume was heavy, but as long as fans are into it, Crear said the band will continue to feature texting during its shows.

"Who knows? Someday in the future we might take a segment of the show and stop what's going on and have them respond onstage," he said.

"This really extends what is typically a two-hour event into a longer experience," he continued. "An hour after the show you can ping the phones of the people who sent messages and let them know about a special Web site with exclusive behind-the-scenes material and more information on the band."

Bands are using texting for a wide variety of purposes during their shows. Coldplay encouraged fans to text their e-mail addresses to the anti-poverty campaign by Oxfam using technology similar to that used on U2's world tour and during the Live 8 shows in Philadelphia and Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Rolling Stones have yet another unique texting application on their A Bigger Bang tour. Fans attending certain shows on the tour can text a message as soon as they arrive at the venue and, through a random drawing, win a chance to sit onstage during the show."

Mobile Videos To Promote Unsigned Artists

Pro Hip-Hop is scouting for hip-hop music videos from unsigned artists to feature on a mobile hip hop network planned by Mobile Lingo to launch in the next few months. The idea is that the network will act as a promotional vehicle for the bands, who won't be paid.

[via Moco News]

DecentXposure Searches For King of the Ring

More than 200 of America's most exciting emerging artists are expected to participate in an online ringtone battle of the bands called ‘King of the Ring.'

Hosted by DecentX.com, the leading website for the country's next generation of musical stars, King of the Ring is modeled after a traditional sports schedule, with a regular season qualifying the top eight bands for play-offs that will lead into the holidays and reward the winner with a prize package provided by sponsors who cater to the needs of professional musicians. [Press Release]

EMI: A Different Tune

A good article in Newsweek on the major labels fighting back against digital rivals, pirates and freeloaders, and working out new (mobile) business models.

... Ring tones and tunes now gross more than $4 billion a year, and mobile download is poised to take off as a slew of new music phones hit the market later this year. "There are key individuals in the industry who get it now," says Rob Glaser, founder of RealNetworks, which owns the online music site Rhapsody.

Image left: EMI is experimenting with new models for digital music, including the Gorillaz, an animated hip-hop band that just signed a ring-tune contract for its single "Dare".

Cells, MP3 Players in Battle Royal

The Korea Times reports on how mobile phones and MP3 players are battling it out to be the mainstream mobile terminal in the digital convergence era.

"Up until now, mobile phones seemed to have a leg up on its major competitor, absorbing almost all functions, including the MP3 player.

However, the portable digital jukebox looks ready to hit back by soaking up the voice call feature, a move spearheaded by Apple Computer, the world's primary MP3 player vendor famous for its iPod series.

... Experts say no to the possibility that wireless call-capable MP3 players will surge past today's music player-embedded cell phones.

"It is a not a big deal for cell phones to embrace a music player but you cannot expect the same vice versa. It is a tall task for Apple to upgrade its iPod to a cell phone for various reasons," said Kevin Lee, an analyst at Woori Securities.

"Cell phone users do not have to do additional works to listen to songs with incorporated music players. But MP3 player users need to sign up for mobile carriers to make or receive calls with it,'' he said."

Maximo Park to release songs straight from the road

Maximo Park are making live recordings of 'Apply Some Pressure' from each date of their forthcoming tour available to fans.

The song will be recorded at every one of the 12 NME Rock'N'Roll Riot Tour tour dates and then distributed them to fans via mobile phones.

To pre-order a live version from a particular venue fans must text MAXIMO followed by the code for each particular show to 81330. A unique PIN and instructions how to download the track online after each show will then follow. "