Movaya Announces Agreement With IG Fun

Movaya, a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions, today announced the availability of mobile games from IG Fun.

Under the newly formed partnership, Movaya will distribute IG Fun’s array of mobile games directly to the mobile marketplace. IG Fun content will be readily available to the mobile community via Movaya's PlugNPlay system, a free to use e-commerce solution for mobile content.

Games available immediately through Movaya’s system include selections from IG Fun’s broad catalog of casual and action titles including Battle Chess, Bruce Lee Iron Fist and Tradewinds 2.

“We’re pleased to work with Movaya to bring our games to Movaya's distribution network,” said Sean Malatesta, CEO, IG Fun — Indiagames’ international publishing division. “We continue to look for ways to reach the global audience of mobile gamers and Movaya’s system enables us to reach hundreds — and soon to be thousands — of points of distribution with a single relationship.”

“Movaya is excited to add IG Fun to our growing list of catalog partners,” said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. “Indiagames, the parent company for IG Fun, is one of the longest established and most innovative mobile games companies and it is fantastic to be working with them."

IG Fun joins an impressive list of major publishers such as Capcom, RealNetworks, GOSUB60 and In-Fusio that have recently partnered with Movaya. Over the coming weeks, Movaya is expected to announce additional partnerships with other leading mobile game publishers.

Virgin Mobile USA Acquires Helio

Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) officially confirmed it will acquire rival MVNO Helio from SK Telecom and EarthLink.

The acquisition will cost Virgin Mobile $39 million, paid in limited partnership units equivalent to 13 million of its shares, currently valued at $2.99. Parent firm Virgin Group and SK Telecom will also invest $25 million each of equity capital in the post-merger Virgin Mobile USA.

Dan Schulman, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Mobile USA, said, "We believe that the acquisition of Helio and the related strategic investments by SK Telecom and Virgin Group are of enormous benefit to our business, both financially and strategically. The reduction of our long-term debt and the increase to our revolver will realign our capital structure, providing us with greater liquidity and increased flexibility to grow our business. At the same time, we will acquire an asset which will add to our scale, allowing us to reduce our network costs and assure that Helio's customers are immediately profitable when brought on to our cost structure. We expect the combined elements of this deal will drive increased Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow."

$39M for Helio is laughable when you consider both Earthlink (NSDQ: ELNK) and SK Telecom have invested around $600 million in this venture over the last three years.

Note to readers: Don't work for, or invest in, MVNO's.

To get more detail on the merger, click here.

Instinct Selling Well

Sprint (NYSE:S) reports that the Samsung Instinct has become the fastest-selling EVDO handset in Sprint history.

"We had high expectations going into the launch so our initial order to Samsung was the largest for any Sprint EVDO handset to date," said John Garcia, President of Sprint's Wireless Division. "The strong early response tells us that wireless customers recognize Instinct as a highly-innovative and convenient touch-screen device combined with the fast speeds available on the largest national mobile broadband network. In the first few days of availability, many Instinct devices were purchased by existing customers upgrading their wireless device - we thank our customers for their endorsement of this device, our Simply Everything pricing plan and our company."

The strong sales have led to some temporary shortages at some store locations so Sprint and Samsung are diligently working around the clock to increase inventory in all sales channels. Samsung has increased efforts to deliver new supplies of Instinct on a daily basis and manufacturing plants are operating at full capacity to keep up with the demand.

1.5 Billion Mobile Internet Users

Market Intelligence and research firm IDC released some data from their Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast which should put a smile on everyone's face who is in the mobile content space.

From the release:

Nearly a quarter of the world's population - roughly 1.4 billion people - will use the Internet on a regular basis in 2008. This number is expected to surpass 1.9 billion unique users, or 30% of the world's population, in 2012, according to IDC's Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast.

"The Internet will have added its second billion users over a span of about eight years, a testament to both its universal appeal and its availability," said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC. "In this time, the Internet has also become more deeply integrated into the fabric of many users' personal and professional lives, enabling them to work, play, and socialize anytime from anywhere. These trends will accelerate as the number of mobile users continues to soar and the Internet becomes truly ubiquitous."

While the PC is currently the dominant means of gaining access to the Internet, IDC expects the number of mobile devices accessing the Internet will surpass the number of online PCs by 2012.

Additional highlights from IDC's Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast include the following:

* Users will access the Internet through more than 1.5 billion devices worldwide in 2008, including PCs, mobile phones, and online videogame consoles. By 2012, the number of devices accessing the Internet will double to more than 3 billion, half of which will be mobile devices.

* Roughly 40% of all Internet users worldwide currently have mobile Internet access. The number of mobile Internet users will reach 546 million in 2008, nearly twice as many as in 2006, and is forecast to surpass 1.5 billion worldwide in 2012.

* The most popular online activities today are searching the Web, finding information for personal use, using Internet email, accessing news and sports information, and accessing financial or credit information. In addition to these activities, more than 50% of online users worldwide are using instant messaging and playing online games.

In case you need any help with the math,

1.5B people connecting to the Internet from their mobile phones.
50% play games online.

That sounds like at least 750M mobile gamers worldwide. My research shows the current number of mobile gamers worldwide at 165M.

Sell Out!

Want to make a quick (well probably not that quick) $20? If you feature Sprint's new Instinct phone in a Youtube video, Sprint will pay you $20.

The campaign/contest is being called "Sell Out" and full details will be released next Monday. The person with the best Instinct video wins $10,000.

Oe of my friends just bought the Instinct and really likes it but probably not enough to make a video...

Good News for Glu

Glu Mobile Inc. (Nasdaq:GLUU), a leading global publisher of mobile games, today announced an agreement with Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) that will extend the companies' exclusive, worldwide partnership to include Call of Duty: World at War for mobile phones.

Glu had released Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare last year.

"We're excited to extend our partnership with Activision and bring Call of Duty: World at War to mobile gamers worldwide," said Jill Braff, senior vice president of global publishing, Glu. "The Call of Duty franchise has been a great addition to Glu's portfolio of award-winning games, and we look forward to the continued success it will bring to the action category."

Call of Duty is one of the top selling console games in history having recently announced that Call of Duty 4 had crossed 10 million in unit sales, supposedly only one of 10 games to reach that mark since 2000.

The Glu mobile version of Call of Duty: World at War, which Glu will develop and publish, will be scheduled for deployment to consumers on major wireless carriers around the world.

"Glu has solid studio capabilities and carrier relationships around the world, and is well-positioned to continue to bring the Call of Duty experience to mobile consumers," said Dave Anderson, senior director, business development, Activision Publishing, Inc.

Cake Mania 2: Bake Off! Now Available

Two of Movaya's partners (Vivendi and Sandlot) have hooked up to launch a new mobile game this week.

Vivendi Games Mobile, a division of Vivendi Games, announced the release of Cake Mania 2: Bake Off! for mobile, an exciting spin-off of the wildly successful PC Franchise, Cake Mania, which has claimed more than 70 million downloads to date. Cake Mania 2: Bake Off! allows players to show off their baking skills in the zany and exciting new baking experience for mobile phones.

Cake Mania 2: Bake Off! for mobile is based on the best-selling casual PC game, Cake Mania 2, where the game's iconic baker, Jill, is back to baking and decorating cakes in a new mobile adventure. In the hit sequel, players will explore six far-flung bakery locations and serve up delicious original creations to quirky customers, ranging from federal agents to mysterious aliens. Players will choose which path Jill pursues, with each decision leading to new baking challenges and dilemmas. The game includes 72 levels of baking and frosting madness, multiple endings and a branching, non-linear thrilling storyline.

"Cake Mania 2: Bake Off! provides a fantastically fun mobile experience that is sure to satisfy fans of all ages," said Paul Maglione, president of Vivendi Games Mobile. "Cake Mania 2: Bake Off! is the perfect addition to our growing portfolio of top-rated, unique entertainment properties. We are excited to partner with Sandlot Games to offer the millions of Cake Mania fans another outlet to play this unrivaled game."

"We are extremely excited to partner with Vivendi Games Mobile to extend the Cake Mania franchise beyond the PC," said Daniel Bernstein, founder and CEO of Sandlot Games. "With broad consumer appeal and strong brand recognition, Cake Mania 2: Bake Off! will not only thrill Cake maniacs everywhere but will also appeal to anyone looking for a different kind of casual mobile game."

The game is available on carrier decks and will be downloadable from Sandlot's site soon as well.