Ypulse Mobile Round-Up
Posted by anastasia on 09-24-2007
Lots happening in the mobile space today beginning with MySpace announcing its free (ad supported) mobile service…just what users want — banner ads on cellphones! I think I'd pay for the subscription version if I wanted to MySpace from my phone (or maybe just Facebook from my phone instead). In other ad supported mobile news, Blyk, the UK ad-supported free wireless service has officially launched. It's one thing to be able to use MySpace for "free" on your phone and having to put up with ads, it's another to be able to use your phone for free…makes the ads seem a little more tolerable, no?
In case you haven't heard, Virgin Mobile is being sued for using a photo of a teen it grabbed from Flickr. It was originally posted under a Creative Commons license (for commercial use though?), but the parents aren't having it. In better news for Virgin Mobile, they just launched a feature where you can now text message multiple people at once (this will be a big hit with teens).
And finally, I was invited to check out the closed beta of Buzz (AT&T's new youth site). I haven't yet, but might if I can find some time. You can get a feel for how the avatars look just from this closed beta landing page (and the screen shot pictured above). From their email to me:
Buzz is a new Web destination that distills millions of daily blog postings into “buzzcasts” in which 3-D animated avatar characters read portions of selected blog posts providing users with an entertaining and easy-to-consume sampling of what’s attention-worthy in the blogosphere at that time.
September 24th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
THis ad sponsored phones seem to be very tempting, but still have to be proved to work in the real world. I guess cool people will just be willing to pay some fee to get a regular phone number without annoying ads.
Yours Sincerely.