Mobiles

Movaya TryNBuy to allow consumers to play mobile phone games before purchasing

Seattle, WA, February 07, 2008 -- Movaya, a mobile content distribution and services company, announced today the BETA launch of Movaya TryNBuy, the first off-deck, cross-carrier, try-before-you-buy system for mobile game sales in the US.

Over 30 mobile game publishers are taking part in the BETA launch, including top game publisher Com2uS. As a leading developer and publisher of original mobile games, Com2uS is always looking for new ways to reach mobile consumers," said Don Lim, general manager of Com2uS America. "With Movaya's TryNBuy, we know that once people are able to try out titles like the award-winning Tower Defense or our addictive stick-figure phenomenon, Super Action Hero, we'll be creating a whole new group of Com2uS fans."

TryNBuy is a patent-pending licensing system that allows consumers to download games over-the-air to their mobile phones and try games on their handset. Upon purchase, the games are ‘unlocked’ for unlimited use. TryNBuy is configurable on multiple levels including length of play, number of plays, and more.

“There has been widespread commentary on the factors holding back the growth of mobile games in the US. With our PlugNPlay launch last year, Movaya solved one of the major issues, which is to increase points of distribution. And now with TryNBuy, Movaya has solved the last remaining issue, which is the risk-free download for consumers. Try-before-you-buy was a major driver in the huge growth of casual games on the desktop and now Movaya is bringing this to the mobile marketplace.” says Movaya CEO Phil Yerkes. (see info below from Juniper)

To check out Movaya TryNBuy BETA, please visit www.bustedthumbs.com on your PC or www.bustedthumbs.mobi on your mobile phone. BustedThumbs is a direct to consumer merchant of mobile games and content.

About Movaya
Movaya (www.movaya.com) is a Seattle-based technology company, whose mobile-content management and distribution software system allows mobile content publishers and online retailers to effortlessly extend their businesses to the growing off-deck mobile content marketplace. Movaya PlugNPlay is the company’s flagship product, which brings together Mobile Game and Application Publishers, Online Retailers and consumers in one marketplace for Mobile goods. Movaya is powering the off-deck, mobile industry.

From MobileCrunch:

Voce, the Beverly Hills-based MVNO, has joined the likes of AMPD, ESPN and Disney MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) in the dumpster, amid hundreds of millions of investor capital written off as a bad idea.

Yes, it is hard to run a carrier, and apparently even harder to run a virtual carrier. What is the lesson here? I think you need to consider what it means to build a brand over night, and how $500 million dollars, or having the backing of Disney, does not help. The exercise here for the executives at these failed MVNOs was to take a bunch of cash, build a brand overnight, come up with new and creative ways to market, and take customers away from giants AT&T, Verizon and Sprint (while turning around and paying those respective firms a fee for each subscriber since those networks ultimately hosted the end user). I suppose on paper it looked great.

What is the secret sauce that Virgin has to compete? Or Boost Mobile? Or Helio? What part of the success (or failure) is dependent strictly on brand appeal? ESPN had an offer for sports fans, Disney for kids, AMP'd for hip teenagers, VOCE for rich MoFos...and they all failed to attract a subscriber base to simply break even.

First, switching costs are huge for individuals. Rarely can a person simply switch carriers on any day they feel like, and I would think this is the top factor of the failure rate. With most US consumers locked into a 2 year contract, there was not even a chance to get these people to move in bulk. I believe a more holistic, organic growth plan should have been in order for a strategy here, and from what I can see, this has been Virgin's plan. Boost and Helio have followed the same path as the others, and their lifespan does not look healthy. Sell short.

History of the company here: What happened to Voce? [IntoMobile.com]

Here's an open secret about converting Nokia smartphones to a Wi-Fi hotspot so you can hook up all your friends and colleagues with laptop or iPod touch!

There's a new and free mobile software oddly named as JoikuSpot that you can easily install on your Symbian S60 handset. Once you activate it, all other electronic devices can connect and enjoy fast Net connection. Make sure though you have unlimited data plan or else you will be in really BIG trouble.

Folks at The Register attest this works properly but pointed out "only HTTP and HTTPS are supported and there's no security at all."

Without doubt, your not-so-customer-friendly service provider will loathe this wonderful creation. Better hurry and install this mobile app before your service provider finds a way to block it permanently.
See full article.

Related Entries:

Mobile Phone: A Conspicuous Consumption? - 18 April 2007

Mobile Future Through the Eyes of Nokia - 23 October 2007

Why You Should Not Buy a New Mobile Phone this Holiday - 05 December 2007

Watch Out! US Mobile Phones are About to Get MORE Dirty - 01 February 2008

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Watch out! Market intelligence firm IDC Study has identified the 10 Emerging Mobile Players to Watch in 2008. The may be small businesses and essentially unknown but noted for their creativity and innovative thinking. Moreover, they have the potential to alter the playing field with their unique technology.

So, keep track of the following mobile companies:

• Aegis Mobile
• Enterprise Mobile
• Gearworks
• Hook Mobile
• INSIDE Contactless
• Medio
• mFoundry
• Mobile Posse
• Mobilians
• Vlingo

Selection are based on 4 broad strategies or attributes such as companies developing new ways to address existing or near-future customer and industry needs. Hopefully, we can interview the brains behind these companies and squeeze out insights from them.

Read [Press Release]
See full article.

Related Entries:

Study: 79% of Consumers Annoyed with Mobile Ads - 17 April 2007

Get to Know the Emerging Mobile Companies On the Block - 22 April 2007

Next Generation Mobile TV Excites Consumers - 06 May 2007

Latest Mobile Marketing Study Released - 19 November 2007

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Contents of this feed are a property of Creative Weblogging Limited and are protected by copyright laws. Violations will be prosecuted. Please email us if you'd like to use this feed for non-commercial activities at feeds - at - creative-weblogging.com.