Advertising Funded Mobile Games Launched in Israel
Israel's largest mobile operator, Cellcom has launched an ad-funded mobile games service powered by innerActive. The new service offers the subscribers free games downloads, sponsored by top brands such as: Nokia, McDonalds, Diadora, Samsung, Adidas and Walt Disney.

Brazil Mobile Phone Ownership Up To 102.13 Million In March - Anatel
SAO PAULO -(Dow Jones)- The number of cellphones in circulation in Brazil rose to 102.13 million by the end of March from 101.18 million in February, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by telecommunications regulator Anatel.

Russia & Central Asia Q4 2006 - GSM Slips Slightly
GSM dominates the mobile market in Russia & Central Asia, with all but 1.4m of the region's 171.7m mobile connections at the end of 2006 being accounted for by the global standard technology. There was, however, a very small shift in the trend in Q4 2006: the proportion of the customer base made up of GSM customers - which has been growing steadily over the years - actually fell.

Global 3G Mobile Phone Users Topped 100 Million in 2006
ASIA Japan : China's CCID Consulting has reported that global 3G Mobile Phone Users Topped 100 Million in 2006. In addition, in 2006 - the overall telecom operation industry grew steadily. Revenue for the whole year reached US$1.4323 trillion, up by 6.2% over 2005.

Mobile TV Support for More Than One Hundred Devices
US : Streamezzo announced that its Rich Media Software Suite has been certified as interoperable for Mobile TV applications on more than one hundred mobile devices. While competing technologies can only claim support for a select number of newer high-end mobile handsets, Streamezzo’s platform offers universal availability of interactive rich media applications on all major operating systems and the widest selection of device manufacturers and models.

LG Prada Phone Review (not 3G)
Who needs the Apple iPhone? If you want a fingertip-operated touch-screen handset with delectable black looks, the new LG Prada is an option you won’t have to wait for.

New Nokia 6120 3G HSDPA Phone
Europe : More and more consumers are using their mobile phones for tasks such as downloading music, streaming video, browsing the Internet or receiving emails with attachments.

Symbian Welcomes the Nokia 6120 Classic
London, UK – 17 April 2007 – Symbian Ltd. welcomes the launch of the new Nokia 6120 classic that is based on S60 and Symbian OS™. Utilizing HSDPA, the compact Nokia 6120 classic allows for fast download speeds for browsing the Internet, receiving emails with attachments, downloading music and streaming video.It includes two 2 megapixel cameras – front and back – for easy high-quality photography and video recording, and a Data Transfer application that allows consumers to transfer contacts, calendars, photos, videos and files from their previous Nokia to their new Nokia 6120 classic, even when the SIM card is removed.

Google Phone - Launch Expected End 2007
Taiwans's High Tech Computer (HTC) is reported to have started manufacturing of a Google branded mobile phone, with an limited launch expected by the end of this year. Handset component suppliers told the local DigiTimes publication that initial shipment volumes are expected to reach one million units.

Mobile gaming firms seek design standards
Like all emerging technologies, the mobile gaming industry faces some obstacles. Unlike the PC and console markets where there are a few key platforms for developers to target, the mobile world has massive fragmentation and a lack of homogeneous targets for game developers, negatively impacting the market.

Player X staging European-wide mobile games competition with Terraplay
Stockholm 2007-04-20. Mobile media company Player X has selected Terraplay as the service provider for its connected gaming service, initially for ten games.

Microsoft's mobile strategy set to pay off
The biggest news from the recent CTIA Wireless 2007 show: After years of mostly talking about mobile applications and content, the industry is finally acting. And, lo and behold, Microsoft is positioned to cash in.

The Top 10 Asia Pacific Operators in 2006
Over the last few quarters there has been little or no change at the top of the list of the Asia Pacific region's largest operators. China Mobile is still the number one and is still by far the largest mobile operator in the world, with the best part of 300m customers as at December 2006. However, this is not to suggest that the Asia Pacific mobile market is anything other than highly dynamic - five of the ten largest companies in the region were not in the top ten last year and two were barely in the top 20.

Mobile Marketing and Advertising to be Worth $3 Billion by 1Q 2008
The world market for mobile marketing and advertising is expected to be worth about US$3 billion by the end of 2007, according to a recent study from ABI Research.

Nokia Linux Adoption Is a Defensive Move
Recent developments are further evidence of the growing acceptance of Linux in the mobile communications space. Notably, Nokia announced that it has joined the non-profit Linux Foundation (LF), reportedly to work with the LF on Linux-based technologies, including the Nokia Internet Tablet, in a vendor-neutral environment. The company has also released an SDK, which extends S60 to the open source and Linux communities.

CDC Games Prepares to Launch Some of the World’s Most Anticipated Games
BEIJING-- CDC Games, a business unit of CDC Corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA) and pioneer of the "free-to-play, pay-for-merchandise" model for online games in China, announced today its growing pipeline of upcoming games includes some of the world’s most anticipated games.

Application Downloads With QUALCOMM's BREW Solution Reach More Than 160 Million
SAN DIEGO, -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and mobile data solutions, today announced a number of milestones underscoring how KDDI's wireless data service, powered by QUALCOMM's BREW(R) solution, continues to spur the demand for mobile applications in the Japanese market. In January 2007, KDDI subscribers downloaded more than seven million BREW applications to their mobile phones. The cumulative number of BREW application downloads is now more than 160 million since KDDI first launched BREW in February 2003.

Next Gen Mobile Service Revenues to More Than Double by 2008
Competition has become even more cutthroat among next gen mobile and wireless broadband service providers, says Infonetics Research in a new study about North American, European, and Asia Pacific operators. The study shows 65% of providers rating competition and customer retention as the most challenging of their business concerns.

Double Fusion, THQ Sign Multi-Title In-Game Advertising Deal
SAN FRANCISCO -- Double Fusion today announced that it has added upcoming titles from THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) to its premium network. The agreement grants Double Fusion advertising representation across certain platforms for a number of THQ’s highly anticipated titles. The roster includes games based on the Juiced™, MX vs ATV™ and Stuntman® franchises.

Double Fusion, THQ Sign Multi-Title In-Game Advertising Deal
SAN FRANCISCO -- Double Fusion today announced that it has added upcoming titles from THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) to its premium network. The agreement grants Double Fusion advertising representation across certain platforms for a number of THQ’s highly anticipated titles. The roster includes games based on the Juiced™, MX vs ATV™ and Stuntman® franchises.

Application Downloads With QUALCOMM's BREW Solution Reach More Than 160 Million on KDDI's Advanced CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Network
SAN DIEGO, April 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) , a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and mobile data solutions, today announced a number of milestones underscoring how KDDI's wireless data service, powered by QUALCOMM's BREW(R) solution, continues to spur the demand for mobile applications in the Japanese market. In January 2007, KDDI subscribers downloaded more than seven million BREW applications to their mobile phones. The cumulative number of BREW application downloads is now more than 160 million since KDDI first launched BREW in February 2003.

GreenAppleGames.com Reaches Record Content of Over 700 Casual Games to Play
GreenAppleGames.com reaches over 700 casual games to download and play. The casual games portal offers four categories of game content which include: free online flash games, PC downloadable games, Mac downloadable games and Mobile games.

Killing Orcs By Phone
I must admit that generally I am unmoved by most mobile games. It seems to me that phone games have a fundamental problem: the titles that are casual and easy to play often seem forgettable. Zuma, Bejeweled, etc, are fun, but I forget they are there. On my Desktop a good casual game’s icon is an ever-present reminder that a great time-waster is at hand, but on a handset you need to remember the game and then drill to unearth it. And the more involving games that I might want to get back to playing tend to be too involving for quick bites.

20% of Mobile Phones Will Include Near Field Communication by 2012
In its latest analysis of the Near Field Communication market, ABI Research forecasts that by 2012, some 292 million handsets ? just over 20 percent of the global mobile handset market ? will ship with built in NFC capabilities.

Gameloft Celebrates The Success Of The Derek Jeter Franchise
New York – Highlighting its worldwide leadership position, as well as the creative strength of its internal development studios, Gameloft®, a leading publisher and developer of video games for mobile phones, today announced that its Derek Jeter franchise of mobile games is the best selling baseball game franchise on the market to date. The company is also pleased to announce the newest mobile baseball game offering in the series, Derek Jeter Pro Baseball 2007.

Terraplay signs new Player
Terraplay is to power a 10-title pan-European connected games offering from Player X.

Gameloft sprints to 3D
Gameloft is to release a trio of 3D games with US operator Sprint as part of its ongoing move into the third dimension.

Mobio Announces the Availability of the GetMobio Mobile Lifestyle Portal
CUPERTINO, Calif.,-- Mobio Networks today announced the release of GetMobio, the first mobile lifestyle portal that offers over 50 free applications and widgets on the mobile phone. For the first time, anyone can download the GetMobio lifestyle portal at http:/www.getmobio.com and get instant access to their favorite Web content and services right on their mobile phones.

Capcom Reveals Upcoming Mobile Games
Capcom, announced the development of four new titles including mobile versions of the seminal Mega Man II and Street Fighter II, as well as an all music version of their Who Wants To Be A Millionaire mobile game dubbed Millionaire Music Edition. Also announced was Shade II, a new massively multiplayer mobile game that allows players to play online across mobile networks. The announcement was made at the company’s annual Gamer’s Day event held yesterday in San Francisco.

Artificial Life, Inc. Expands Into India With Bharti Airtel
HONG KONG, April 12, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Hong Kong based Artificial Life, Inc. (OTCBB:ALIF), a provider of award winning mobile 3G technology and applications, today announces a new partnership with Bharti Airtel, the leading telecommunications company in India, to release the latest mobile games including V-girl(tm), V-boy(tm), V-Penguins(tm), America's Next Top Model(tm), and their accompanying side products such as wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones and video mails.

Guppy Games Enters European Mobile Game Market Through Partnership With Twistbox Games
BELLEVUE, Wash., April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Guppy Games, international mobile games developer and publisher, has selected Twistbox Games as the exclusive European distributor of select Guppy Games' titles. The first two titles to be published are the highly anticipated Andy Roddick Tennis and the award winning Stick Fighter Fury. For the first time, gamers throughout Europe will be able to enjoy Guppy Games titles on their mobile phones.

CDC Mobile Introduces New Mobile Game in China
CDC Mobile recently launched its first “free to play, pay for merchandise” mobile game, titled Mocca Beans, in China.

Sony Ericsson W880i 3G Phone Review
The Sony Ericsson W880i was officially launched in February, 2007 and follows in the jet stream of top sellers like the W810.

Nokia N95 3G Phone Review
The Nokia N95 was first announced in September 2006 at the Nokia Open Studio event in New York. The N95 has just landed in UK shops this month and has created quite a storm of interest in our 3G Forum. We are convinced the N95 will be remembered as the 3G handset that took us to somewhere new.

Sony Ericsson W880i 3G Phone Review
The Sony Ericsson W880i was officially launched in February, 2007 and follows in the jet stream of top sellers like the W810.

Nokia 5700 3G Smartphone XpressMusic
Europe : Nokia revealed the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, an accessible 3G smartphone augmented by a dedicated audio chip for enhanced music performance. The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic features an iconic twist design that easily switches between four modes at the flick of the wrist - music player, 2 Megapixel camera, video call and smartphone. Combining the benefits of a music-oriented, multipurpose device featuring 3G dataspeeds, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is expected to retail for an estimated EUR 350 before taxes and subsidies during the second quarter of 2007.

Artificial Life, Inc. Partners With arvato mobile
HONG KONG, April 4, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Hong Kong based Artificial Life, Inc. (OTCBB:ALIF), a leading provider of award winning mobile 3G technology, games and applications, today announced a new partnership with arvato mobile GmbH, one of Europe's leading distributors of digital and mobile content. arvato mobile GmbH will release and distribute 'Poli - der Eisbar(tm)' and other mobile games from Artificial Life, Inc. in selected countries in Europe.

Nokia Announces Open C SDK Plug-In Availability for S60 Devices
ESPOO, Finland, April 4 -- Nokia (NYSE: NOK) today announced the immediate availability of the Open C Plug-In extension for the S60 3rd Edition Software Development Kit (SDK), enabling easier porting of Linux-targeted open source projects to Symbian OS- based S60 smartphones and increased productivity for developers of mobile applications running on S60 devices.

Top 10 Operators in Latin America
Together, America Movil and Telefonica continue to dominate the Latin American market. The Mexican company owns four of the largest operators in the region, while Telefonica accounts for another three. Telecom Italia is the only other company that has an investment in more than one business, with majority control of TIM Brasil and a stake in Argentina's Telecom Personal. Since we last reviewed the region, there has been little change in the overall order of the top ten operators and none in the top five.

Gameloft signs Heroes, ports new titles to BlackBerry
Our sister site, MobileIndustry.biz, covers all the latest news in the growing mobile gaming sector. Here, we present a round-up of this week's latest announcements.

Nokia Tops March Handset Sales Chart
The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, has released their "Top 10"-list for March 2007. The list is based upon the number of pieces of model specific mobile and smart phone cases that have been ordered from Krusell during March 2007. Krusell's list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of phones on six continents and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

HI's 3D Rendering Engine MascotCapsule(R) Exceeds 200 Million Shipments in Mobile Devices Worldwide
Tokyo, Japan, Apr 5, 2007 - HI Corporation has announced that its 3D rendering engine MascotCapsule(R)reached 230 million shipments in mobile devices worldwide as of the end of the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2006.

Hands On To Bring Guitar Hero To Mobile
San Francisco headquartered developer Hands-On Mobile (WPT Texas Hold ‘Em, Duckshot) has announced an agreement with Activision to bring the Guitar Hero franchise to mobile devices.

GOD: Nokia's Doumenc Talks SNAP Mobile
The latest feature for Gamasutra sister mobile game news site GamesOnDeck talks to Antoine Doumenc, head of SNAP Mobile at Nokia, about the turnkey connected Java game package, its potential for mobile game developers, and how it figures into Nokia's N-Gage strategy.

Glu mobile phone games
At CTIA Wireless 2007, Glu Mobile Inc., a leading global publisher of mobile games, announced its lineup of games launching this spring, including Poker Pop, the mobile adaptation of the addictive poker puzzler from PlayFirst. Glu will also launch a variety of retro arcade games, casual board game favorites, online hits and casual console titles from well-known brands such as Atari Inc., PlayFirst and Microsoft, as well as Glu’s original title, Brain Genius.

Some Mobile Games
A few mobile releases have caught my eye this month. The biggest, I suppose, is Guitar Hero which will be coming to a handset near you soon, courtesy of Hands-On. I have absolutely no idea how this will work - Java games are not known for their amazing sound and won't it be a little bit embarrassing - let alone socially intrusive - to let rip with Smoke on the Water on the 7.15 commuter train?

VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Dial up a better game
There are surprises in life. The Jets win the Super Bowl. Martha Stewart goes to prison. And this week, my best reviews are for games you play on mobile phones. Like Paris Hilton photos in a glossy magazine, they're cheap, easy and entertaining.

CDC Mobile Launches First ''Free to Play, Pay for Merchandise'' Mobile Game in China
BEIJING-- CDC Mobile, a leading provider of mobile value-added services ("MVAS") in China and a business unit of CDC Corporation (NASDAQ:China), announced today it has launched the first “free to play, pay for merchandise” mobile game in China.

Fragmentation is Slowing Linux Uptake in Mobile Phones
Fragmentation is one of the most common complaints levied against Linux as a cell phone operating system, reports IMS Research - and, at present, there is a relatively high degree of variation in Linux-based solutions when compared to other platforms such as Symbian or Windows Mobile.

Samsung launches 3G mobile devices
The Argentine unit of South Korean hardware manufacturer Samsung has become the first manufacturer to distribute 3G mobile devices in the country, daily Infobae reported.