BROWSING: Handango
Traction in mobile gaming brings sea change to space : Reality: Not everyone will play games on handset
After years of treading water and failing to live up to outlandish hype, mobile games finally may be starting to make progress. And it's the Apple's iPhone - and, to a lesser extent, other multimedia-friendly smartphones - that's moving the needle. Which is why...
Handango adds games from Digital Chocolate, I-play
Handango Inc. expanded its portfolio with two deals with mobile game makers Digital Chocolate and I-play.The distributor of smartphone applications added Digital Chocolate titles such as 3D Brick Breaker Revolution, Mini Golf 99 Holes and Shopping Madness; I-play's offerings include the licensed titles Deal...
Best Buy to sell applications through Handango partnership
Handango Inc. announced an expansion of its distribution deal with Best Buy Co. Inc. that will see the big-box retailer selling smartphone applications through its in-store Mobile Genie system.Best Buy Mobile customers will be offered a catalog of business and enterprise applications for BlackBerry,...
Think globally and act locally, globally too
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile indU.S.try to give their insights into the marketplace.While it was good to see some retailers reporting stronger than expected sales for Black Friday and...
Are you serious? Optimism in this economic climate?: The smartphone content market
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.Having just returned from the Rutberg Wireless Influencers conference this past week, the top question on everyone's...
Rash of mobile storefronts confound consumers, carriers and developers: Is too much choice in content bad?
If this keeps up, content owners may forget the whole "on-deck vs. off-deck" argument. Instead, they'll be trying to figure out which mobile application stores' shelves they want to stock.Google Inc. is the latest player in the app-store game, launching its Android Market last...
25 YEARS: Mobile content history scores lots of hits and misses
Editor's Note: Welcome to our coverage of 25 years in wireless. RCR Wireless News is celebrating with a package of stories detailing the advances of the past three decades. For full coverage please visit RCRWireless.com/25years.The history of mobile data teems with unrestrained hyperbole and...
How many ‘app stores’ can the market support?
It seems you're nobody in wireless if you're not building - and bragging about - your app store. Apple got the ball rolling, of course, by opening its iPhone to developers and adding an on-device storefront, and its unqualified success has sparked a flurry...
So you want to open an “app store”? : What does the plethora of app store announcements mean to the world of smartphone content distribution?
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. By far and away, the most popular question I was asked at CTIA earlier this month...
Napster to go to Best Buy for $121M
Best Buy Co. Inc. moved more aggressively into the content-distribution arena, agreeing to pay $121 million to pick up the subscription-based online and mobile music company Napster.The big-box retailer said it will pay $2.65 per share in cash for Napster and its 700,000 subscribers....
Carriers, retailers woo developers as they court customers
The carrier deck is still the most valuable real estate in mobile content, but the future of downloadable wireless goodies may just lie in third-party storefronts. And for now, at least, developers are the key to success.Apple Inc. stole headlines two months ago with...
Google outlines Android answer to Apple App Store: Search engine giant boasts of ‘open and unobstructed environment’
Google Inc. unveiled its answer to Apple Inc.'s App Store, outlining a distribution system for applications built on its Android platform.Android Market will serve as an unrestricted storefront where registered developers can offer their wares simply by uploading their applications and posting descriptions. Google...
Themes from the ‘OS wars’
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. It feels like every day we are seeing articles about the "operating system wars" and who...
The impact of the iPhone on the smartphone application market
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.With the launch of the 3G iPhone, there has been an incredible amount of media attention on...
What the Apple App Store means
The most compelling things about all those third-party iPhone apps that are coming to market? The way you're going to buy them - and, maybe, how much you're going to pay.Apple earlier this year unveiled plans to launch an iTunes-like store, dubbed App Store,...
Handango scores distribution deal with Sony Ericsson
Handango Inc. announced a deal to deliver content directly to consumers through Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications' convergence phones.The Texas-based retailer of smartphone applications said the worldwide pact will see its InHand client embedded on handsets, allowing users to shop for business offerings, games and...
Worst of the Week: What does my phone do?
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Changing channels in mobile TV : Business model flawed, user experience lacks
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Like many other forms of entertainment, watching mobile TV wastes time - at least to some. For the executives running mobile entertainment companies that routinely talk about the medium as such, there's an apparent sense of pride or ease that comes...
Digital Hollywood pins hope on open access
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Like all things wireless these days, most of this week's more poignant exchanges at Digital Hollywood have been anchored around the idea of open-- opening up carrier networks, devices, content and the Internet gateway where all these things must connect without...
Handango rings up distribution deal with Carphone Warehouse
Mobile content vendor Handango Inc. announced it landed a major distribution deal with The Carphone Warehouse, the largest independent mobile-phone dealer in Europe.Calling the partnership the first of its kind for mobile content distribution, Handango CEO Bill Stone said the company will be expanding...
Venture capital financing wrap-up: Handango, RedSky, Ubiquisys and more
The following list includes venture capital and other investments into wireless companies announced during the past week. The value of the investment is included when available.--Handango: Several companies invested $9.5 million into smartphone content provider Handango. Participating in the Series C funding round were...
Handango predicts 123M smartphones ship this year
jscarbo -
Based on new statistics that suggest soccer moms and teens are warming to smartphones, Handango Inc. is making seven predictions for the smartphone and mobile content market for 2007. The global content provider with a distribution network of more than 16,000 content partners is...
Handango says In Hand service aids repeat apps purchases
LOS ANGELES--Mobile content and applications company Handango said it has experienced a significant increase in the number of repeat buyers of smart-phone applications through its In Hand on-device access service. The company said repeat users trended toward applications that include IM+ for Research In...
Investors pump $60M into Handango
LOS ANGELES—Application distribution company Handango said it snared a whopping $60 million in a recently closed funding round. Institutional Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Neo Carta, Pharos Capital Group, SSM Partners and Centerpoint filled the coffers for Handango, an aggregator of content and applications...