Mplayit's online mobile game discovery service comes to O2 UK Try mobile games on your PC

by Jon Jordan @ PocketGamer
Mobile games discovery service provider Mplayit (previously Mpowerplayer) has announced a partnership with Player X to enhance the try-before-you-buy options on O2's UK portal.

This will run as part of Player X's 100% Mobile service, with Mplayit providing the opportunity to try out mobile games for free in a web interface that mimics the look and feel of a phone.

The deal marks Mplayit's first deployment on a major European operator and follows successful partnerships with US carriers Sprint and AT&T, and Israel's Cellcom.

Mplayit's services are fully integrated with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo, allowing you to add your favourite games to your profile pages and share with your friends. You can also recommend games to others, and receive updates on what games other people are enjoying.

"The web is a highly effective way of bringing in new customers, but it is still massively under utilised by mobile operators," said Michael Powers, Mplayit's CEO.

"We're delighted to partner with Player X and we're looking forward to working with them to offer O2 customers the best mobile games service in the UK market."

"Try before-you-buy has been a key part of our 100% Mobile offering since the beginning. The ability to try out content risk-free is highly valued by customers," said Tony Pearce, Player X's CEO.

"Mplayit's web-based services bring both playable online demos and powerful new social dimension to the O2 service."

Mplayit and Metaflow partner to make life easier for leading mobile publishers and operators

Mobile games discovery specialists team up with content submission experts to
deliver one stop demo shop to publishers and operators

Washington DC, London, September 29th, 2009 – Mplayit (formerly
Mpowerplayer), the leading provider of online mobile game discovery and merchandising solutions, announced today a partnership with content
submissions and ingestion specialist Metaflow. The deal allows publishers and operators to upload content into the growing Mplayit eco-system with even greater ease.

Building upon Mplayit’s existing partnerships with top-tier content providers and operators, Metaflow’s submission software and services will provide the default process for loading content into Mplayit’s backend platform. This will allow mobile publishers to quickly and easily launch online demo versions of all their games and apps, streamlining the procedure and integrating it fully into their existing operator and app store submissions workflow. This announcement comes as Mplayit continues to expand its publisher roster and launches new services in Europe.

Mplayit provides games and apps discovery and merchandising solutions to mobile operators and on social networks. The company is partnered with leading global publishers and delivers services to them and mobile operators including Sprint, AT&T and Cellcom. Its web storefronts are integrated with leading social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, as well as with microblogging and linksharing services like Twitter and Digg. These 'Mobile Arcades' allow users to discover, demo, buy and recommend their favorite games and apps to their friends, all from their web browser.

Since its founding in 2006, Metaflow's tools have become the industry standard in content submission and deployment, taking much of the complexity out of the content submission process, removing the traditionally highly manual process of content submissions and greatly increasing productivity and deployment capacity.

"When it comes to content submissions, Metaflow are the guys everyone looks to,” said Michael Powers, CEO Mplayit. “Through working with Metaflow, our publisher partners will be able to launch demos and integrate into Mplayit’s social discovery service with the minimum of fuss and maximise their speed to market - just a few simple, standardised clicks.”

“Mplayit are rapidly establishing themselves as leaders in their field and there are great synergies in this relationship,” said Charles McLeod, CEO Metaflow. “We already work closely with many of the same operator and publisher partners and by integrating our tools, Mplayit will be able to streamline and simplify processes for everyone in the chain.”

About Mplayit (www.mplayit.com)
Mplayit is the leading global provider for online discovery and social merchandising of mobile games and applications. The company’s proprietary software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mplayit is based in Ashburn, Va., and is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit www.mplayit.com or email info@mplayit.com. You can also follow Mplayit on Twitter: @Mplayit.

For more details contact: Andrew Durkin MUSTARD PR
E: Andrew@mustardpr.com
Tel: + 44 (0) 1628 502601
www.mustardpr.com

About Metaflow (www.metaflow.com)
Metaflow provides the industry's leading content submissions solution to help publishers, aggregators and platforms providers, stock mobile content into more than 340 mobile operators and portals globally. Metaflow submissions software is centrally managed for the benefit of the entire Publishing community via Operator, platform provider and Publishers direct updates using Metaflow software and services. The company also provides tools and uses industry standards to enable rapid content receipt and ingestion into vending platforms to support the industry working
more profitably. For more details on Metaflow please contact Charles McCleod at
cmcleod@metaflow.com

Mplayit Mobile Arcade is now a Featured App on Facebook!

I'm really proud of the engineering and product development team at Mplayit. We've all been working hard creating a great experience in Facebook for the discovery of mobile content. Today Facebook recognized that effort. On top of our 'verified app' status, Facebook has now decided to feature the 'Mobile Arcade' as an application they recommend.

Great work guys. If they like us now, they will love our plans for the future!

Mplayit from Craig Dalton on Vimeo.

Our latest video for Europe. ;)

Mplayit expands internationally through partnership with Cellcom

Mplayit expands internationally through partnership with Cellcom, Israel’s leading cellular operator, for mobile games discovery service

Mplayit Mobile Arcade Allows Customers to Find, Try and Buy Mobile Games on Leading Israeli Operator’s Web Portal

Washington, DC, August 11, 2009 – Mplayit (formerly Mpowerplayer), the leading provider of online mobile game discovery and merchandising solutions, announced today the launch of the Mplayit Mobile Arcade application for Cellcom, Israel’s premier mobile operator.

“This is an important milestone for Mplayit. Cellcom is our first international carrier partnership, and we’re looking forward to working with them to continue to drive the take up of mobile games and applications in the Israeli market,” said Michael Powers, CEO of Mplayit.

The partnership was facilitated by Logia Group, a world leader in providing innovative mobile content solutions and the exclusive games service provider for Cellcom. With Mplayit's award-winning discovery engine, Cellcom’s 3G+ customers can try out mobile games online for free in an interface that mimics the look and feel of a mobile phone. In addition, Cellcom will be able to analyze and tune the performance of the platform and marketing activities through Mplayit's online analytics dashboard.

“Delivering quality Value-Added Services is an increasingly important part of our strategy - we always look for new technologies and communication solutions for our customers,” commented Adi Cohen, V.P. Marketing at Cellcom. “This service will give our customers a rich browsing experience and Cellcom an effective tool for converting casual browsers into mobile game players.”

The launch of Mplayit’s services with Cellcom follows successful partnerships with Sprint and AT&T in the US, and marks Mplayit’s first International operator deployment. Recently announced as a Finalist for “Best Games Service Provider” in the prestigious ME 2009 Awards, Mplayit’s services are also fully integrated with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo, allowing users to add their favorite games to their profile pages to share with their friends. Users can also recommend games to others, and receive updates on what games their friends are enjoying.

“The rapid growth in popularity of smartphones has raised awareness of mobile games and apps to unprecedented levels. Yet the opportunities for customers to discover and try out the content they desire remain limited,” said Mplayit’s Michael Powers. “The web remains a largely untapped mechanism for converting casual browsers into players – publishers and mobile operators are recognizing this, and Mplayit is providing the solution.”


About Mplayit

Mplayit is the leading global provider for online discovery and social merchandising of mobile games and applications. The company's proprietary software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mplayit is based in Ashburn, Va., and is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit www.mplayit.com or email info@mplayit.com. You can also follow Mplayit on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Mplayit.

For more details contact Jessica Rei at Mplayit Jessica@mplayit.com


About Cellcom

Cellcom Israel Ltd., established in 1994, is the leading Israeli cellular provider; Cellcom Israel provides its approximately 3.208 million subscribers (as at March 31, 2009) with a broad range of value added services including cellular and landline telephony, roaming services for tourists in Israel and for its subscribers abroad and additional services in the areas of music, video, mobile office etc., based on Cellcom Israel's technologically advanced infrastructure.

Mplayit iPhone Arcade brings award-winning App discovery and social merchandising to Facebook

Mplayit iPhone Arcade Allows Customers to Discover, Share and Buy Apps on the World’s Leading Social Network site

Washington, DC, August 4, 2009 – Mplayit (formerly Mpowerplayer), the leading provider of online mobile game discovery and social merchandising solutions, announced today the launch of the Mplayit iPhone Arcade on Facebook.

Building on Mplayit's award-winning Mobile Arcade service, Facebook users can now discover and preview iPhone and iPod Touch applications, post news feeds, bookmark their favorites and share them, as well as see the apps their friends have recommended.

Mplayit's iPhone Arcade features a growing selection of apps for consumers to discover and share - any developer or publisher is welcome to submit their app for inclusion. In addition to the enhanced merchandising and social discovery experience that the iPhone Arcade delivers, Mplayit partners also have access to the Mplayit Dashboard, the company's online social analytics tool, which provides data on the performance of apps on the service and tracks users' sharing behavior to help tune their marketing activities.

"There are so many great apps for the iPhone, and the App Store will never be able to show you all of them to their best advantage," commented Michael Powers, CEO of Mplayit. "People are looking to their friends to find the really cool stuff that is personally relevant, and our iPhone Arcade is the way they'll do it. We socialize mobile content discovery."

Mplayit’s iPhone Arcade joins the company’s successful Facebook-verified Mobile Arcade play and discovery service on the social platform. It also follows partnerships with Sprint and AT&T in the US. Mplayit is partnered with the world’s leading content publishers and their services are also fully integrated with other key social media services like Twitter, MySpace and Bebo.

"We've made a name for ourselves with full, playable discovery of mobile games for mass-market handsets, and we're delighted to bring the same opportunity for rich discovery and sharing to iPhone users all over the world,” added Powers.

Discover the Mplayit iPhone Arcade for yourself! Visit http://apps.facebook.com/iphonearcade Developers and publishers who would like to see their apps featured should contact Mplayit at apps@mplayit.com.

Mplayit nominated for E-Tech Award at CTIA 2009

Mplayit, Mpowerplayer's social discovery application for mobile games, was nominated for an E-Tech Award at CTIA 2009. We are in the Mobile Application and Widget category. Please mark us as a 'favorite' if you are a fan.

http://bit.ly/4EiqV


You can check us out here: www.mplayit.com

It must be official...the press release is out

My friends often joke that if it isn't tweeted or on Facebook Status updates, it didn't actually happen. If that is the case, then at least now I'm officially on board at Mpowerplayer. The included press release went out today.

Mpowerplayer Taps Craig Dalton as Vice President of Business Development

Will leverage extensive experience in wireless and social media platforms to extend Mpowerplayer's mobile operator relationships and social presence.

Ashburn, VA (PRWEB) March 3, 2009 -- Mpowerplayer, the leader in playable discovery and social selling solutions for mobile content, announced today that it has hired Craig Dalton as its vice president of business development. In this position, Dalton will be responsible for establishing strategic relationships with mobile operators and distribution partners looking to increase existing and develop new revenue streams using Mpowerplayer's online trial and merchandising solutions.

"Craig's knowledge of the mobile and social media sectors fits perfectly into Mpowerplayer's strategy moving forward," said Michael Powers, CEO of Mpowerplayer. "I've worked with Craig since his time at I-play and he is uniquely qualified to push the envelope in socializing mobile content."

Craig's knowledge of the mobile and social media sectors fits perfectly into Mpowerplayer's strategy moving forward
I've worked with Craig since his time at I-play and he is uniquely qualified to push the envelope in socializing mobile content.
Prior to Mpowerplayer, Dalton managed business development for MMS pioneer Hook Mobile leading initiatives with wireless operators and social media platforms. Earlier, he managed business development for global mobile entertainment publisher, I-play. His responsibilities included negotiating operator agreements, developing a Direct to Consumer strategy and creating a mobile video business unit. Prior to I-play, Dalton managed business development for interactive television and mobile pioneer, Proteus, having completed the first TV to SMS campaign in the US with Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 that established the TV to SMS market in the U.S.

"I was impressed with Mpowerplayer's technology when I was first introduced to it at I-play. I witnessed the company establish itself as the leader in playable discvovery solutions for online storefronts. As the company began to explore the concept of social selling, it became more apparent that it would be a great fit for my particular areas of expertise. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to join the leadership team and help define solutions for next generation online mobile app stores," said Craig Dalton.

Dalton holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Irvine and a BSBA in Business Administration from The American University.

Mpowerplayer gives wireless carriers, mobile content publishers and mobile content developers an effective platform to showcase mobile games, applications and other mobile content online, reaching a wider audience of consumers. Mpowerplayer also provides access to social network users, with its Mplayit Mobile Arcade application currently available on the Facebook, MySpace and Bebo platforms.

For more information on Mpowerplayer, please visit http://mplayit.com or http://mpowerplayer.com.

About Mpowerplayer:
Mpowerplayer is the leading provider of online mobile game trial and merchandising solutions to operators and publishers, allowing consumers to easily try, buy and share mobile content on any website or social network. The leading consumer destination in the world for online demos of mobile games, Mpowerplayer's software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mpowerplayer is based in Reston, VA, and is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit www.mpowerplayer.com or email info (at) mpowerplayer.com.

Dow Jones Wireless Innovators 2009

Mpowerplayer CEO, Michael Powers will be presenting at the 2009 Dow Jones Wireless Innovators event on Tuesday, March 17th 2009 in Redwood City, CA.

Michael will be talking about the Mpowerplayer Find+Try+Buy+Share solution that our customers are plugging into their app stores.

Make sure to join us there!

http://tinyurl.com/af6xw3

Its official - I'm joining Mpowerplayer

I've written a bit here and there about my {love, hate, joy, frustration, etc} with the app store phenomenon. One consistent theme in my 9 years in mobile has always been the sense of 'what if'. What if more people knew about what we were doing. I've been party of some great companies that have created great games, messaging applications and other content, but the reality has always been we only every really address a tiny percentage of the market (the Golden Nickle).

Now the App Store movement does have some chance in changing that in a positive way if executed properly. What needs to be noted is that for the market to grow we need not only good on-device discovery (and great devices), but also good online discovery. It is clear that all our customers (at least in North America and Western Europe) are online. We need these app store efforts to consider that as much as they consider on device initiatives. Apple has obviously done a nice job with the iTunes Store (although I do have some suggestions for improvement). It is up to other market entrants to meet and exceed this bar.

It is for this challenge that I've accepted a new position as VP, Business Development for Mpowerplayer. Mpowerplayer is helping operators, handset manufacturers, publishers and anyone else selling content online to increase sales by offering trial and merchandising solutions. To boot, the company is linking content discovery to social media services creating the concept of social selling. I'm very excited to start this new position and make better app stores!

Tweet up at Mobile World Congress

Attention all folks attending Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. There will be a Tweetup on Wednesday, February 18, at 5pm. The location is still being determined, but it will be in the vicinity of the GoMo News Blender, which is at Belchica: Carrer de Villarroel, 60, 08011, Barcelona.

We will post updates on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Check for hash tag #mwc09

Termination Fees

One of the unfortunate things about working on MMS is that inevitably the discussions are always framed by client's understanding of SMS. The SMS market has come a long ways since my time at Proteus ('99-'04) where we were able to create some of the first large scale TV to SMS campaigns. It was always a challenge trying to find the right commercial deal between the parties involved. Sometimes it was the carriers who paid, other times it was the content owner. It was clear that SMS was a technology that would benefit both sides so fortunately, in the end, someone always paid. In the years that followed, as the SMS volume increased, the costs began to decrease. Eventually we've arrived at a place where those with the highest volume have ended up paying a fixed fee effectively driving the incremental cost of additional messages (above that fixed fee volume) down to zero.

The marginal additional cost structure has led to some exciting new models. Why not strike a 50/50 advertising deal if you aren't paying a per unit cost for each message? I would. Unfortunately, this has skewed the perspective of new market entrants (and old) to think that SMS is free. In actuality, there are still cost involved. While this models are still in relative infancy, the are incredible attractive to new market entrants.

Here is the catch. The operators were never consciously on board with the fixed cost deals the aggregators have put forth. In Q4 of 2008, a Verizon Memo was leaked suggesting that a $0.03 per message termination fee should be implemented. This would put pretty much all advertising deals under water. At a $12 CPM, the parties are splitting $0.012 per message losing the provider $.024 per message. Not attractive. You can see even a termination fee of $.01 would be a losing proposition at the current CPM rates. I'm really concerned.

Now back to MMS. The market is conditioned to think about messaging from the perspective described above. Unfortunately the cost structure for MMS is still in its infancy. Much like the early days of SMS, it is unclear what those cost *should* be and who should be bearing them. Trying to cram an advertising model into this situation is very challenging. Eventually I believe that the cost structure will rationalize and the models will appear, but in the meantime it remains quite tricky.

It will be very interesting to see what happens if and when the carriers implement termination fees for SMS messages. I believe it will happen in 2009 and the industry is going to be in for an unfortunate correction. On the brighter side, I believe then MMS will begin to shine as the advertising units are way more interesting and effective.