Author Archive

Game over for Daydream!?

July 26th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Strong industry rumors say the end of Daydream is near. New owner 24h Poker has put the stockprice to zero about a month ago and is now looking for buyers to sell bits of the company. Those bits include projects like LBS based Botfighters, Kidz Mobile and much more. Need a contact? Send me a mail and I will forward your details.

Player X Strikes it Lucky

July 25th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Brand Licensing | No Comments »

Player X launched yet another TV quiz for mobile as they signed for Strike It Lucky with Freemantle Media. The deal follows in a series of previous licenses from Freemantle Media like Blockbusters and Family Fortunes. The deal also includes wallpapers, ringtones and other mobile content.

Konami to purchase Bluelabel

July 25th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Konami announced the acquisition of Blue Label Interactive. The purchase is used to enhance performance of Konami Mobile. Under the Konami Mobile division, this purchase also allows room to move with other mobile products, probably wallpapers and ringtones.

Codemasters goes Brew

July 25th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Games | No Comments »

After a successfull start in J2me, Codemasters has now signed up with Qualcomm to go Brew. Titles in the Brew roadmap will be Colin McRae Rally and TOCA amongst many others.

I-Play denies financial problems

July 25th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial | No Comments »

David Gosen, CEO of I-Play, announced toward the press that I-Play has no financial problems and is profitable since the start of 2006. Mobile Media Magazine (Informa) however pulls out some pretty negative numbers. Mobile Media claims the loss from 2004 (3.62 Million pounds) had been doubled in 2005 to a staggering 7.16 Million pounds. Having investigated the results, Mobile Media Magazine shows most of the costs (15.08 million pounds) in 2005 where in the operating costs. This was only 8.2 million pounds in 2004. Some reasons for this are the rebranding from Digital Bridges to I-Play and the purchase of Ditto Studio’s. David Gosen also states that I-Play has never been in a stronger position. One of their successes has been their move into North America. If you want more details about this article, please visit Informa as the full article has many more details.

Deathrow for Koch and Hudson

July 24th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Brand Licensing | 1 Comment »

Koch Records and Hudson Entertainment have gained the rights to publish mobile content based on the artists from Death Row Records like Tupac and Snoop Dogg. The license is issued for North America only as EU distribution is handled by Buongiorno and South Africa by Teljoy.

Mobile2Win to expect $ 10-15 Mln funding

July 24th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

According to ContentSutra, Mobile2Win is about to sign for a funding between $ 10 Mln and $ 15 Mln from Northwest Venture Partners. Current investors are Siemens Mobile Acceleration GmbH, Softbank China Venture Capital and Contests2Win India.

Content MVNO Helio still negative

July 21st, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial | No Comments »

Helio, the would be competitor for Amp’d Mobile in the US is estimated to still take huge losses according to MoCoNews. Earthlink announced it’s shares in Helio made a $ 13.3 Mln loss. With SK Telecom on the other end of the VC, the loss is expected at $ 20 Mln. Total loss would be between $75 Mln and $ 85 Mln for the full year.

Smashing Ideas acquires BlueSkyNorth

July 18th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Smashing Ideas extended their reach into the mobile Flash Lite market by acquiring UK based BlueSkyNorth. BlueSkyNorth will open up the doors to Western Europe. Both companies are specialized and working with Flash Lite though Flash Lite for BlueSkyNorth has been the only direction so far. Details about the deal have not been disclosed.

Round 3 for Digital Chocolate brings $ 18 Million

July 18th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | 6 Comments »

In it’s latest funding round, Digital Chocolate has secured $ 18 Million worth of investments. More early, Digital Chocolate managed to raise $ 22 Million of VC funding since it’s start in 2003. Trip Hawkins announced that Digital Chocolate will keep focusing on creating high quality unbranded games rather then branded ones. Trip estimates his company has a 11% marketshare and will become profitable in the next year.