:::M-Internet360:::

SMS interactive option for tennis fans

Sony Ericsson plans to introduce SMS interactive option for tennis fans where they will be able to communicate with players by sending messages on digital billboards.  The company recently signed a $US88 million 6 year sonsorship deal with the women's game under which the WTA Tour will be renamed the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Superbowl mobile services

: BetWWTS an offshore gaming company offering Internent and telephone wagering launches a new wireless service where you can bet on the Superbowl

: Vote for the Most Valuable Player during the Super Bowl XXXIX telecast from your cell phone. The text messagingn campaign is launched by THQ Wireless, the NFL and Players inc.

: Mobile 365 launches text-to-vote campaign in conjunction wtih AOL Super Sunday Ad Poll. Participants pay $0.50 to vote via their mobile phones.

Bet Superbowl on your mobile

BetWWTS an offshore gaming company offering Internent and telephone wagering launches a new wireless service where you can bet on the Superbowl.  The mobile gambling service works with more than 600 phones, including Internet-enabled phones from Cingular Wireless, Nextel, Sprint Corp., T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. The technology is powered by Phantom Fiber. More

Gambling on wireless phones is expected to become a multi-billion business in the next five years. Paul Skeldon, a senior analyst with Juniper Research, predicted in a recent report that mobile gambling worldwide would grow from almost nothing in 2003 to $16 billion in 2008.

Skeldon projected that U.S. gamblers will spend more than $2 billion on mobile gambling in 2008. The Juniper research report said that gamblers in Asia would be responsible more than half of all wireless gambling.

With billions at stake, a number of gambling companies already have set up operations for wireless phones, mostly casino-style games for gamblers in Europe and Asia. Even the Israel Sports Betting Board has cut a deal to allow gamblers to use wireless phones to gamble on football games.

Tiger Woods Mobile Content - US

Sprint to offer two year exclusive TigerWoods.com mobile content to it's subscribers. Services will be launched next month and prices range from $2-$6.

: Multiple voice ringers so fans can listen to Tiger Woods announce their incoming calls...

: Multiple screen savers so customers can personalize their phones with a series of play action shots such as Tiger driving the fairway or saluting the gallery.

: Club Tiger Mobile, a Java application that allows customers to access live stats and scores, breaking news, a tournament schedule, a media gallery of photos from recent events, Tiger Woods trivia and Tiger Woods golf tips from Golf Digest.

: Text Alerts - fans can receive text alerts announcing the launch of new Tiger mobile content as well as play Tiger text trivia and more, all by sending the world "Golf" to 84437

: EA Sports Tiger Woods 2005 - a popular mobile golf game

Diego Maradona goes mobile

Digital Orchid signs an exclusive agreement with Diego Maradona to develop full range of mobile applications such as wall papers, screensavers, ringtones, dribbling and penatly shootout games. The applications will be launched in China, Europe and Latin America.

I am a huge fan of Diego Maradona and definitely the best soccer player of my generation. Digital Orchid is another innovative company based in San Diego and has a patent pending technology which enables the distribution of real-time dynamic and interactive applications to mobile phones. The company recently launched the world's first multi-language content delivery platform, that will deliver branded consumer content in native languages.

Sachin Tendulkar mobile content on your cell

Mumbai based Nazara Technologies signs a worldwide exclusive deal with cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar to develop a wide range of mobile phone content such as games, wall papers, screensavers, themes, SMS trivia, mobile social services based on him and latest news on him. Deal is worth Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million). This was bound to happen as Sachin Tendulkar is one of the best cricket players out there and has been a ambassador for many leading brands in the world. He is basically treated like a God by cricket loving Indians all over the world.

"We expect strong demand from mobile operators, considering Tendulkar's brand recognition and image. We are already in discussions with operators in the UK for a major launch in their market with Tendulkar's games, based on cutting-edge mobile technology." The US was also a huge market with over 2 million Indians, a targeted consumer base, he added.

In India the Tendulkar mobile phone game will probably be priced at about Rs 100 and wallpapers for phones at Rs 10 each. In the UK, the game will be priced at about £5 and in the US at about $5. Nazara normally gets 40-65 per cent of the retail price, depending on the country of distribution.

Other recent deals signed by the company:

...with the Magna group in India to bring content based on their popular magazines such as Stardust to the mobile phone market. There was a growing worldwide market for mobile content based on Indian movies, he added. The company has also signed up with global American brands such as the evergreen Archie's Comics and British athlete Colin Jackson.

"The Archie's comic licence will allow us to develop fun games based on all the popular Archie characters, deliver wallpapers and screensavers based on them, as well as deliver the actual comic strips on the phone.

"The deal with them gives us exclusive access to over 60 years of comics in their archives. We expect to generate approximately Rs 20-25 crore (Rs 200-250 million) in revenue over the next three years through Archie," Mittersain said. "Several other top brands are under finalisation and we hope to announce 4-5 more deals in January," he added.

Smarter Soccer through chips

From Smart Mobs:

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits have developed a wireless ball and player location system that can immediately tell referees and game analysts where the soccer ball or striker is at any point in time.

The chips, implanted in balls and players' shinpads, read their position up to 2000 times a second. The data is collected by antennas placed around the field and sent on to a central computer, which processes the statistical information.

The new technology could, for example, inform spectators that the ball missed the goalpost by 3.9 centimeters. Coaches could also tell which players were hustling around the pitch, and which were holding back, either out of fatigue or laziness.

The technology could help referees when the calls they must make seal the fates of careers, titles and millions of euros.

Other sports could benefit from the chips, such as ski jumping, basketball or baseball. And besides sports, tests using the chips in airports are underway. Developers claim the system could also be used in searching for missing persons, guarding prisoners or maintaining security around buildings.

Click here for the original link.

Other:

: RFID's inside footballs gathering data such as confirming location of the ball in real time.

EPSN to offer wireless content in Japan

EPSN and Walt Disney Internet Group to launch the Japanese version of X Games mobile to subscribers of KDDI and Vodafone.

X Games Mobile will offer X Games-branded content including news and information, screensavers, ring tones, wallpaper, photos, logos, and streaming audio and video.

The Walt Disney Internet Group will market X Games Mobile and manage the relationships with mobile phone service providers in close co-operation with ESPN. X Games Mobile is ESPN’s first major content-based wireless initiative outside of the US and the latest in ESPN’s developing wireless business. Earlier this month, ESPN announced the creation of ESPN Mobile, the first national US wireless phone service specifically targeted to sports fans.

Champions League mobile content

T-Mobile UK introduces UEFA Champions League content bringing picture and video alerts to soccer fans.

Users can sign up to receive highlights on a match-by-match basis or can follow their favourite team throughout the tournament which gives all highlights of the chosen team. Team alert packages cost £4.50 for the picture alerts package and £5 for the video alerts package. Individual match packages cost £1.50 if receiving picture alerts and £2.50 if receiving video alerts.

The highlights cover a range of match action including goals, penalty misses and all game mile stones, followed by a match summary and additional alerts if the match goes into extra time. Customers are also automatically entered into a prize package to win a VIP trip to the Final of the UEFA Champions League, taking place on May 25, 2005 in Istanbul.

Portable Hollywood coming to South Africa

InnoVeda Mobile Technologies signs an exclusive distribution agreement with CinemaElectric to deliver multimedia and video content mobile services. CinemaElectric currently offers four kinds of categories - Portalble Hollywood, Electric Catwalk, Pocket Girls and Action Sports. There are no details about the pricing or revenue sharing agreements.

Portable Hollywood - interviews with celebrities, news, gossip, movie trailers and "wallpapers", which was the background image of the cellphone screen. The Electric Catwalk has footage on the latest fashion styles and trends as well as style and makeup tips. Pocket Girls has footage of hot bikini models, while Action Sports includes outrageous extreme sports and stunts, wrecks and crashes.

…movie messages of between 30 to 90 seconds in which animated comic characters or popular stars could unleash offbeat greetings, flirt and tell jokes or even hurl abuse at the viewer. These were offered in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Chinese.