USA and China to lead the world in Mobile Games
"A new report published by the Wireless World Forum (W2F) values the Mobile games market at US$1.9 billion in 2006, rising from US$520 million in 2003. Graham Brown, Research Director at W2Forum says “Our valuations are conservative in the face of the bullish forecasts offered in the last 6 months. We have seen figures as high as €38.1 billion, but these just fly in the face of all historical evidence from the electronic games market and consumer spending figures.”"

Nokia’s gaming gamble
"No stranger to new markets, the world’s largest cell phone maker thinks it's got game. Nokia says it has seen the future of telecom and it has a high score. After declaring victory in cell phone consumer hardware, the Finland powerhouse decided this month to enter the $10.6 billion video game hardware market with the launch of a new gaming handset platform, the N-Gage.
With its current market dominance (the company accounts for about 40 to 50 percent of all mobile phone sales worldwide, according to Wall Street analysts), Nokia is looking for new market opportunities. Hence, the N-Gage phone/game hybrid handset. "

Nokia launches latest Symbian OS device, Nokia 7700
"28 October 2003 – Symbian today announces that the new Nokia 7700 media device launched today by Nokia is the latest product based on Symbian OS.

Based on Symbian OS version 7.0s and the new Series 90 user interface, the Nokia 7700 media device is the first in another new category of smart mobile connected devices based on Symbian OS.

With wide 65,000 color touch-screen & pen input, music & video playback and streaming, integrated VGA camera, FM radio, multimedia messaging support, as well as complete personal information management features, the Nokia 7700, provides users with a rich mobile Internet and personal media experience. "

Europeans' Busy Thumbs To Generate Mobile Gaming Revenues Worth Nearly $7 Billion By 2006
"A new study by Frost & Sullivan is optimistic that widening distribution channels, increasing awareness of mobile gaming, coupled with the rising degree of comfort with payment and delivery over the air amongst subscribers, will trigger an explosion in growth.

The universal appeal of games will be further fueled by deepening penetration of more sophisticated handsets, propelling revenues in European mobile gaming market from just under $800.79 million in 2002 to just below $7 billion in 2006. "

Nokia 6600 Smartphone Ships
"Nokia today announced that it is shipping the Nokia 6600 Smartphone—a tri-band GSM phone which supports MIDP 2.0 and MMC flash memory expansion.

Although the company describes the phone as being “designed for a multitasking mobile workforce” and only briefly mentions the fact that it can play games, Nokia clearly understands the percentage of office workers that either desire to or already play games on their business-related PDAs, phones, and computers. For while the phone’s Web page mentions only one game (Pinball) that is included on a memory card sold with the phone, browsing Nokia’s online store for the 6600 reveals dozens and dozens of downloadable games."

Nokia launches new mobile developer training program in Europe and North America
"Helsinki, Finland, October 9, 2003 - Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the global leader in mobility, today announced that its certified training in mobile software application development -- launched in Asia earlier this year -- will be made available in North America and Europe as part of the program’s ongoing global roll-out. By teaming up with select professional training companies and contributing its own tools, knowledge and other materials to the curriculum, Nokia aims to provide the ideal opportunity for beginning, intermediate or expert programmers to create the advanced wireless applications now demanded by businesses and consumers. "

Mobile gaming: The next big thing
"Tired of the same old computer games, and buying consoles for gaming sounds absurd. Don’t worry, playing games.Mobile gaming is still at an evolution stage and is an extremely nascent industry. Mobile gaming is linked to the number of GPRS connections in India which is currently pegged at around 140,000 - 160,000 consumers."

Multimedia News Release - Bluetooth Product Shipments Surpass One Million Units Per Week
"OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Oct. 28-- The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the trade association responsible for Bluetooth wireless technology, today announced that the short-range wireless technology has made its way into a record number of consumer products. For the first time ever, total Bluetooth product shipments worldwide exceeded one million units per week, in 3rd quarter 2003, according to Matthew Towers of IMS Research which operates a Bluetooth semiconductor volume tracking service. "

Nokia Mobile Internet Conference 2003: Envisioning a Mobile Services Mass Market
"HELSINKI, Finland--Oct. 28, 2003--At the 2003 Nokia Mobile Internet Conference (NMIC) held this year in Nice, France, Nokia shared its vision of a mobile services mass market to a broad range of industry players, including mobile operators, application developers, content and service providers, media, IT companies, retailers and enterprises.

Also unveiled at the annual conference were five new mobile devices, including the ground-breaking Nokia 7700 media device, mobile enhancements and Network products and solutions. "

Mobile Game Developer
"Mobile entertainment is the wave of the future and effective content developers will be in big demand. This program provides a solid foundation in game design and development with a focus on Mobile entertainment content creation. "

Vodafone Dials Up Mobile Games and Applications From Tira Wireless
"LAS VEGAS---CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & ENTERTAINMENT 2003---Tira Wireless, a premier wireless application publisher and technology provider for the J2ME marketplace, today announced that a selection of entertaining mobile games and applications created by Tira Wireless will be made available to Vodafone live! subscribers. The agreement signed between Tira Wireless and Vodafone spans 13 countries, providing more than two million Vodafone live! customers with access to a selection of quality wireless Java titles from Tira's application portfolio. "

GameStop drops N-Gage price by $100
"Major US games retailer GameStop.com has reduced the price of Nokia's N-Gage game deck to $199 only two weeks after the system launched, in a time-limited offer which also includes free shipping for all N-Gage products.
The $100 price cut is one of the largest drops we've ever seen to the price of a console this early in its lifespan, and has prompted talk of an official drop by Nokia before Christmas - although there's no evidence as yet to support this possibility, with the Finnish company continuing to be bullish about the success of the platform."

OPENWAVE & SUN MICROSYSTEMS PARTNER TO MARKET MOBILE DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE TOOLS: "CTIA, LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV), the leading provider of open software products and services for the communications industry, today announced a joint marketing agreement with Sun Microsystems, Inc. that will allow Openwave to distribute NetBeans open source development technology and a trial version of Sun's Java Studio with the Openwave? Mobile Software Developer Kit. The co-marketing effort is specifically aimed at the ever-expanding mobile development community in order to promote the comprehensive mobile development tools and technologies provided by Openwave, Sun and the NetBeans community. "

Sendo unveils new multimedia smartphone, the Sendo X - PDA Live.com: "Sendo yesterday announced its new highly featured multimedia smartphone, the Sendo X. The company assumes the Sendo X sets itself apart from other multimedia smartphones with a number of innovations, specifically in the area of video, audio, camera, connectivity and Internet functionality."

Mobile success for Tomb Raider: "N-Gage and Vodafone live! versions prove a big hit. Eidos is celebrating twin successes for its mobile adaptations of the Tomb Raider franchise, as Lara Croft's handheld adventures top both the N-Gage software chart and the Vodafone live! games chart.
Although the N-Gage version of the game was displaced from the top spot of the N-Gage chart after the first week on sale, this is probably the less interesting of the two achievements anyway, since the installed base of the N-Gage remains extremely low."

Nokia official figures claim massive N-Gage sales: "Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has released its first set of sales figures for the N-Gage since the device launched earlier this month, claiming that the device sold some 400,000 units worldwide in its first two weeks on sale.
These figures paint a completely different picture to those we've seen from independent market analysts; Arcadia Research this week claimed that the N-Gage had sold only 5,000 units through every US retailer that stocked the device in its first week on sale, and in the UK, Chart-Track has measured less than 800 sales through videogame retailers in the first fortnight on sale."

New deal to boost mobile games development
"Babel Media has signed a key agreement with Tira Wireless to allow mobile games developers and publishers to convert mobile software applications for different handsets."

Vodafone and Verizon Wireless Collaborating on Content: "Wireless Leaders Will Bring Exclusive Wireless Games to Their Customers

BEDMINSTER, NJ and LAS VEGAS ? From the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2003 show, Vodafone, the world's largest mobile community, and Verizon Wireless, the nation?s largest wireless service provider, today announced they will work together to develop exclusive games and content for their customers. This unparalleled relationship will bring to customers of Vodafone live! and Verizon Wireless Get It NowSM an unrivaled games experience-and is expected to include content developed by Konami, a leading game publisher. "

Wireless Watch Japan: New DoCoMo Handsets - 505iS or SOS call for 2G?: "Tokyo (JCNN) - Six months on from NTT DoCoMo's largely successful counterattack - via the new 2G 505i handsets - on Vodafone's Sha mail photo messaging service, the market-leading carrier has launched its next set of fab-five 505iS (S= second-generation) phones with working models, mockups, and three models (call girls?) - but, unfortunately, without the lovely Ai Kato (see our 505i launch Viewpoint). "

Sony Ericsson talks P900, wireless upgrades: "Sony Ericsson has officially announced the follow-up to the P800 smartphone. The device will ship in some EU countries before the end of the year, and appear in the US and China (as the P908) early next year.

The design of the P900 may be more business-like than its predecessor, but the company is stressing consumer functions such as video recording, games and imaging. "

Trip Hawkins launches wireless entertainment firm: "Industry veteran returns with a new company. Former 3DO boss and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins has announced his latest venture following the collapse of 3DO earlier this year, with new company Digital Chocolate set to focus on the wireless gaming sector.
Hawkins announced his new venture at the CTIA mobile trade show in Las Vegas this week, telling website GameSpot that the wireless space represents 'probably the most interesting computer platform in history'."

Sony Ericsson and Handango announce easy over-the-air download to smartphones : "Using the Application Shop Client, users can find, download and buy Symbian OS™ applications directly from their phones.

The Application Shop Client provided by Handango was developed in conjunction with Bitween, an Italian developer who is also a member of Sony Ericsson Developer World. Because the Application Shop Client runs locally, it offers a rich graphical interface and very fast response times, improving user experience while still offering the immediacy and convenience of over-the-air application delivery. "

Synergenix and Gametrac partner on bringing state of the art mobile gaming to youth market
"Synergenix Interactive today announces a strategic relationship with Gametrac Europe Ltd regarding the use of the mophun™ technology in their Gametrac lifestyle mobile phone.
Gametrac Europe Ltd has signed a licensing agreement regarding the mophun™ technology as well as the development of high-quality 2D and 3D children's games for use on their new Gametrac series of products.
The games, which are designed for children between the ages of 6-14, contain a vast suite of 'super cool' games sold on memory cards as well as from mobile network operators. The games are designed with a contemporary lifestyle in mind and are aimed at teenagers and children"

Mobile games offer new horizons to developers
"Mobile gaming has moved a long way from Snake. At Nokia Corp.'s Series 60 Global Applications Summit in Brussels this week, developers were showing products they had developed both in Java and Symbian native code.

Mobile phones, rather than being a limited environment for games, actually bring a new range of possibilities, and companies are starting to take advantage of that, Lee Epting, vice president of Nokia's developer operations said here Thursday. Nokia is running the summit in order to talk to application developers, operators and channel partners about how to work together and develop the products the market will want, she said."

N-Gage sells under 5,000 units at US launch: "Weak start for Nokia's ambitious game deck. An independent market research firm has released sales figures for Nokia's N-Gage in the USA, revealing that the game deck has sold under 5,000 units across both videogame and mobile phone retailers.
No official figures for shipments, sales or pre-orders of the N-Gage have been forthcoming from Nokia, although last week the company's CEO, Jorma Ollila, said that 'many outlets sold out of the device during the first day of release' and claimed that the company was seeing 'strong order intake from distributors and retailers.'"

GapiDraw for Symbian beta now available: "A first beta of the Symbian version of GapiDraw is now available for download! Supported devices are currently Nokia 3650/7650 and the SonyEricsson p800. The beta comes with a banner and is for testing purposes only. The final version will not have a banner and will use the same licensing agreement as the Win32 version of GapiDraw. Read more on http://www.gapidraw.com. "

Europeans Love Mobile Games
"It was not until the arrival of color, download-enabled devices in the mass market in 2003 that games on mobile devices advanced from Gameboys, embedded games and limited text-based games using SMS and WAP."

Sorrent Launches First Persistent State Character Technology for Mobile Games
"Mobile Persona allows gamers to create a digital character that earns skills and builds experience that can be applied to all Sorrent multiplayer games - even across genres. The first games to support Mobile Persona are the multiplayer versions of FOX Sports(TM) Racing and FOX Sports(TM) Boxing, both available this month on major US wireless carriers"

Wireless Subscribers Download More Than 50 Million BREW(TM)-Based Applications : "LAS VEGAS, Oct. 20 -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced wireless subscribers have securely downloaded more than 50 million BREW-based applications since BREW- enabled products and services became commercially available less than two years ago. "

TAITO to Publish Top Titles for QUALCOMM's BREW(TM) Platform : "TOKYO, Oct. 20 -- TAITO Corporation, a leading wireless entertainment content provider in Japan, announced that it has signed an agreement to publish games for QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless(TM) (BREW) platform. The company plans to provide several titles for BREW-based operators in the United States as well as other operators around the world."

Nokia supplies multimedia messaging solution to Cingular Wireless in USA : "HELSINKI, Finland--Oct. 17, 2003--Nokia today announced it is supplying its multimedia messaging services (MMS) infrastructure solution to Cingular Wireless, the second largest wireless carrier in the USA. Utilizing this technology, Cingular brings its messaging service to life, allowing MMS customers to personalize communication in a simple manner. The end-to-end Nokia MMS solution enables person-to-person MMS, which is a greatly enriched messaging service, allowing users to send photographs, pictures, video and voice or sound clips with text messages. Also available are a range of content-download services which also allow users to deliver ready-made, color postcard messages to friends with their favorite pictures or animated cartoons. "

Nokia claims strong launch for N-Gage: "N-Gages are flying off the shelves, claims Nokia CEO. The first official statement from Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia on the launch of its N-Gage game deck has claimed that the device is sold out at many retailers following a 'very positive' consumer response."

Interview: Sorrent's Scott Orr
"Scott Orr has been bringing innovation to gaming for the last twenty years. He built Madden football into a huge franchise from 1991 to 2000, and his game list includes NHL Hockey, Nascar Racing, NCAA College Football and Eagle Eye Mysteries. After an amazing track record, and raking in over 2 billion dollars of sales, why did he up and leave Electronic Arts two years ago? Because he saw an equally exciting future for wireless games, and thus Sorrent was born. A lot has happened since then, but one thing's clear. Orr and his team - many of whom worked with him at EA -- are continuing to push the frontiers of gaming, just this time on a very small platform. "

Mobile games offer new horizons to developers
"Mobile gaming has moved a long way from Snake. At Nokia Corp.'s Series 60 Global Applications Summit in Brussels this week, developers were showing products they had developed both in Java and Symbian native code"

Making Games For Cellphones Is No Easy Play: "Desperate to avoid even one minute without a diversion, consumers around the world are flocking to buy videogames that can run on their cellphones. That would seem to be a clear win for makers of the games, but it isn't working out that way.

In fact, cellphone games are sold so cheaply that many developers are struggling to cover their development and distribution costs. Exacerbating the problem, some cellphone-service providers are taking a hefty commission for the games they sell to consumers. "

Mobile Developers Complain Of Low Profits: "A report in the Wall Street Journal has claimed that many developers of games for mobile phones are struggling to cover their development and distribution costs. The problem is being exacerbated by many service providers taking an unfairly large commission for the games they sell to consumers."

In-Fusio Tops 5m Members: "IN-FUSIO BREAKS 5 MILLION REGISTERED USER BARRIER - LARGEST MOBILE GAME COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD!

Bordeaux, France - October 16th 2003 - IN-FUSIO, the number one mobile games service provider for operators in Europe and China, today released new mobile game statistics about its services which both confirms the remarkable growth of the industry and clearly positions IN-FUSIO as the largest mobile games community in the world, a benchmark for the industry. Key statistics:

- Over 5,000,000 registered mobile game players world-wide
- 500,000 new players register every month
- A total of 9,320,000 mobile games have been downloaded since July 2001
- Average number of IN-FUSIO games downloaded per day - 21,600
- IN-FUSIO's interactive mobile game service has generated a total of
53,000,000 premium SMS messages (consistently at 5 million per month)"

Mobile games worth US$7 Billion by 2006
"It was not until the arrival of colour, download-enabled devices in the mass market in 2003 that games on mobile devices advanced from Gameboys, embedded games and limited text-based games using SMS and WAP"

New Mobile Service Delivery Platform Announced:
"Representatives from Cash-U Mobile Technologies have announced the release of version three of the company?s Pecan Entertainment Platform. The software comprises two modules, Pecan Gaming and Pecan Provisioning, enabling efficient management and over-the-air delivery of mobile content, including polyphonic ring tones and MMS messages."

Mophun Creator To Fund Development Of Mobile Games:
"Synergenix Interactive (the creators of the Mophun cellphone game engine) has announced the Bleeding Edge funding initiative, which is designed to encourage the development of cellphone games using its technology.

In the press release, CEO Per Österberg stated, “If you have an idea that pushes the limits of mobile gaming using mophun 3D, we will fund it.”

In addition to providing funding for the development of game ideas, Synergenix Interactive will pay royalties for each copy of the games sold."

Games retailers report dismal first week for N-Gage
"Tomb Raider is the inaugural N-Gage chart-topper, for what that's worth
Figures from videogame retailers around the UK are showing an extremely low sell-through of Nokia's new N-Gage game deck in its launch week, with fewer than 500 units sold by the 6,000 game stores polled by Chart-Track.
Although these figures don't include sales from mobile phone stores, which might well be expected to shift a few units of the N-Gage, they still spell out something of a setback for Nokia's ambitions in the console space."

Hands-On: The Nokia N-Gage
"...Although we've played with the N-Gage before at trade shows and press events, we were still struck by the size of the device when we took it out of its box for the first time. It looks and feels like an Game Boy Advance on a diet, and although it's large by modern mobile phone standards, it fits comfortably in an average trouser pocket and is light enough to carry around comfortably. To look at, it's an attractive piece of technology - curvaceous and shiny, it's got a fashionable 'high tech' feel about it which contrasts strongly with the original GBA design, if less so with the new clamshell GBA SP."

Synergenix takes on Mophun 3D Bleeding Edge Initiative: "Stockholm, Sweden – October 8th, 2003 - Synergenix Interactive today announces mophun 3D Bleeding Edge Initiative. This initiative will fund game ideas driving mobile gaming to new levels whether it is content or technology."

Fourth International Convention on Mobile Games 2003
"Hear the Latest from the Greatest at the Fourth International Convention on Mobile Games 2003. Thursday, October 23 to Friday, October 24, 2003 Melia Avenida America, Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena, 36, Madrid, Spain "

Atari Signs Mobile Deal : "Officials from Atari have announced a deal with Mobile Digital Media (MDM) to bring twenty of the Atari brands classic video games to a wide range of mobile devices. The first title will be Atari Retro a compilation of seven arcade classics including Asteroids, Breakout and Pong. The compilation will be available on one cross-mobile-platform card for Palm OS, Windows MobileT and Nokia Series 60 compatible devices."

The New Nokia N-Gage: "The category-busting Nokia N-Gage combines a cellphone, pint-sized video game player and an entertainment center in a compact, daring package."

BBC NEWS | Mobile gaming 'set to explode': "People are going to be spending millions of pounds to play games on their mobiles by next year, say experts.
Mobile gaming is seen by many as the next big thing, as phones become more powerful and come with colour screens.
'This has been a very good year for mobile gaming,' said games consultant Robert Tercek.
'With what's happening in Asia, Europe and North America, we're well on track towards a billion dollar market in 2004,' he said. "

BBC NEWS | Mobile games to 'tempt women': "Mobile gaming is set to become big business in the next year and the industry is hoping it will attract a different breed of gamers, women"