What do you call a mix between voice messaging and mobile social networking? Bubbly!

Mobile messaging experts Bubble Motion has announced a new social network based around its voice messaging platform. Called “Bubbly” it combines mobile social networking with voice messaging to create a “Voice-Blog” service.

China Mobile co-operates in SMS censorship

Google isn’t the only one attracting attention in the Chinese digital censorship stir-up. The main mobile network in the country, China Mobile, will be helping the government censorship drive by scanning mobile owners text messages for “illegal” content - and banning those who don’t comply with government dictates.

Christmas time means Christmas cards - but mobile MMS and SMS is simply better

I had a cup of tea with my parents last night as they wrote out their Christmas cards. This is something that neither I nor anyone else my age does anymore. So it’s funny that this story should land in my inbox today - Sharpcards, one of the world’s largest provider of mobile ecards, has claimed that even though we’re in the early days of the festive season the number of mobile ecards sent is up by 33%.

The Indian mobile price war is getting ridiculous

Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCom) has announced a new price for sending SMS. It is 1 paise. Which is 0.0002 dollars. To put it another way, it now costs 2 cents to send 100 SMS through Reliance. How do you reckon that’s going to pan out in the long run?

FunMail tries to make picture messaging relevant - but only on iPhone

I was back at CTIA in San Diego that I first got shown the newest product from FunMobility. With the release date set, I was sworn to secrecy, but now that restriction is lifted. And so we can have a look at a new visual texting concept from the company - FunMail.

Mobile money goes international, cheap and quick with m-Via

At the the Under The Radar conference near San Francisco today, there have been some really great mobile finance start-ups pitching to the crowd. For those who love mobile payments and m-commerce as much as I do, you’ll be interested in hearing the cheap, international money transfer service being launched by m-Via. There was a panel of expert judges on hand to grill m-Via CEO Bill Baryhar as he pitched the service, and I’ve included some of their pertinent questions here.

New iPhone app encrypts your SMS for privacy and… fun?

Here’s an interesting one. App developer Ellis Vigeo has released an iPhone app that applies encryption software to your SMS. The TextSafe app is directly marketed as the thing to use if you want to make sure that someone “snooping” through your phone won’t read your texts.

Mobile coupons go to the cinema with Sprint, Screenvision and bCODE

UPDATED

Patrons of five hundred cinemas in the US are going to be seeing a new mobile coupon service before the end of the year. The SMS-based service is powered by bCODE, promoted by in-cinema advertisers Screenvision and carried by Sprint network.

Mobile money roundup: NFC, SMS and Nokia

Nokia has partnered with another mobile payments firm. Three major companies have joined in Africa for a major mobile payment trial. Ericsson is pushing SMS as the medium for micro-payments for content producers… and more.

The grandaddy of mobile payment services comes to the UK

No discussion about the global growth of mobile payment services is complete without mention of Safaricoms M-PESA. Available in Kenya since March 2007, it allows subscribers to send money to one another via their mobile devices. The service was hugely popular in Kenya, as it doesn’t require a bricks-and-mortar bank to use… or even a bank account! The service has now made its way to the UK, so that Kenyans in England can quickly and easily send money home.

GoMo 1-to-1 at CTIA: Sybase 365

I’m a big fan of the operator-level services that Sybase provides - particularly the mobile email services it creates for low-end devices in developing markets. But Sybase is a larger operation than that, so I was delighted when I got the chance to sit down with Gregory Dunn, VP of Product Management for Sybase 365, and catch up with what they’re doing and where they’re going.

Mobile loyalty gets hot metrics injection from Tetherball update

We’ve covered Tetherball a few times in the past, as they’ve been doing interesting work intersecting the fields of mobile loyalty, coupons, SMS and NFC. Now the company has announced the release of the updated Mobiquitous 2.0 platform, which adds a layer of comprehensive metrics and reporting on top of that for marketers.

Netbiscuits kicks off SMS coupons for mobile websites

Netbiscuits is a software company that focuses on the creation of (and services for) mobile websites. It claims to deliver 1.5 billion mobile page impressions monthly - and now it has announced the launch of a mobile coupon service that will run through SMS.

Mobile email moves east as Synchronica wins Middle East contract

Despite major competition from sources like Nokia, Synchronica continues to drive it’s low-tech mobile email solution in developing markets. The provider has just announced a Mid East operator win - and as per usual, it is being hush hush as to who it is.

Mobile marketing quickies: MMA Germany and Everton FC goes mobile

The MMA has gotten in close with the mobile section of the BVDW in Germany and Everton Football Club has chosen an SMS marketing platform to stay in contact with its fans more closely.

Mobile News for Leaders