downthetubes Links: Mobile Content




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ROK
Link: www.rokplayer.com
Rok -- who create content for the tiny chips that allow most people with recent models to turn their phones into mini DVD players - has signed deals with Aardman Studios, the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts, and Gerry Anderson's Indestructible Studios, which owns the rights to Captain Scarlet. Other deals have been agreed for 30 to 40 British comedy shows, including the sci-fi series Red Dwarf, as well as Japanese and Bollywood films.
• See also Rok TV and the Monkey News Network
• This is the company that operates the downthtetubes ring tone site

Go Comics
Link: mobile.gocomics.com/GC
US Only: Offers a variety of comics for mobile phones (including such classics as Garfield and Doonesbury) and has signed a deal with manga publisher TOKYOPOP to add three mangas to its collection.

GoGags
Link: www.gogags.com
Created to provide interactive fun to cartoonists, comic readers and bloggers worldwide with character-rich comic strips, funny gag panels, and up-to-the-minute editorial cartoons.

Full Tilt Mobile
Link: www.fulltiltmobile.com
Offers US comics fans comics such as "The Norm" using Barefoot's mComic reader technology. Comic creators get a royalty from all sales and retain copyright on theri creations.
The mComic application is currently only for Series 60 smartphones but Full Tilt are also working on delivering strips to ipod (like Clickwheel) and PSP. The Nokia 6620 is the most popular model in the US and Ful Tilt says this is the phone Full Tilters use to read their comics, but their binders are compatible with other any recent Series 60 devices after the 6600. There's a full list of compatible phones on the Full Tilt web site at: /www.fulltiltmobile.com/devices_tech.html

IC Comics
• iComic Press: http://icomicpress.com
• iComic Press WAP site: http://wap.icomicpress.com
Java-based comics for mobile phones. IC Comics provide a java applet for you to create your own strips. The strips will only play (currently) on a limited number of phone types and because they're java-based the file size is quite large - the free one I downloaded was above the 100K limit some companies set, I'm told.The actual "strip" looks more like animation than comic strip, although the interface was quite nice (but would require a touch screen to use it properly, I feel, and most phones don't have those.
IC Comics launched the service in June 2004. Users choose a comic from the iComic website and order by sending a text message (SMS). Comics cost £1.50 each and are paid through SMS billing.
The comics only display correctly on a limited number of mobile phones at present, and do not work on black and white phones.
Readers can also use the site to design new comics with other writers and illustrators, and will earn 40p from the sale of each comic.
"I don't know of anyone who is publishing comic books for mobiles, let alone opening up their development tools so the public can create their own," founder Adam Priest told DotJournalism. "We are publishing these independent stories in a similar way to underground print comic book publishers."

Nazara Technologies Private Limited
Link: www.nazara.com
In early 2005 Comics Entertainment, LLC awarded the worldwide wireless/mobile telephone platform rights for content based on Archie Comics characters, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie and, of course, Archie to Nazara.

Novelgrafx
Link: www.novelgrafx.com
This company opened to offer independent comics for mobile phones but seems to have closed. They had a deal with Orange in Europe but it does not seem to have ever been marketed in the UK.

Reliance Infocomm
Link: rworld.relianceinfo.com
India: RELIANCE Infocomm has uploaded major Indian and foreign comic strips on to its R-World data application suite to get over with comic strips. Comics include Archie, Popeye and Indian comics.

Sony
Sony said it would begin selling comics via mobile telephones in Japan in 2005, in a move to dominate the small but rapidly growing market in downloading the country's "manga" cartoons. Japanese viewers pay 315 yen ($2.90) to download five manga titles a month by an artist of their choice.
BBC Online published about comics on mobiles in Japan in early 2006: read it here. It reports that there are a number of sites, where for a subscription of $10 to 15 (£5.70 to £8.70) a month you can download every genre imaginable to your heart's content.
Bandai Networks is one of the largest publishing outfits in this brave new world and has its own steadily growing mobile site, with 20,000 users subscribing to a catalogue of 400 plus titles.

UK
• Cosmic Games
Link: www.cosmicinfinity.com
Cosmic produces industry-leading games and entertainment products for mobile devices worldwide. Cosmic is all about true innovation, bringing to wireless several best-of-breed titles, prize-based gaming, massively multiplayer worlds, open-ended games, multiplayer trivia, and much much more.

Glu Mobile
Link: www.glu.com
Glu Mobile is a leading developer and global publisher of mobile entertainment. Glu's portfolio of games, ringtones, wallpapers and information applications include both original titles and entertainment based on major brands from compamies such as Atari, Cartoon Network andTwentieth Century Fox.

Mobile Streams
Link: www.mobilestreams.com
Worldwide company with London offices creating mobile content. Divisions include In 2000 the company introduced a consumer division targeting end users with the launch of Ringtones.com, MobileGaming.com and Mobilebackgrounds.com.

GameLoft
Link: http://www.gameloft.com

A leading developer and publisher of mobile games. In 2006, they announced a long term licensing agreement with Paris Hilton Entertainment Inc. to develop, publish and distribute mobile games based on heiress and pop culture icon, Paris Hilton.
The company creates games for mobile handsets equipped with Java, Brew or Symbian technology.

GIANTMobile
Link: www.giantmobile.com
Made up of seasoned telecom, content, gaming, and internet veterans, GIANTmobile provides branded content to mobile users worldwide. They're based in Santa Monica, Calif., and has offices in the United Kingdom.
Among the many other titles soon to be released by GIANTmobile, Johnny Rocketfingers stands out as an irreverent take on animation and contemporary action films.

MobileLime
Link: www.mobilelime.com
MobileLime is the first US-based company to turn the mobile phone into a marketing, loyalty and payment device, enabling merchants to build sales and loyalty in ways never before possible.

Your World Games
Link: www.yourworldgames.com
Formed in 2005, Your World Games, makers of the rpg game The Shroud, say it is dedicated to giving gamers real games for their phones.

Game Evil
Link: www.gamevil.com
Products include the rpg game Romance Stone and Chaos Blade.

UK
• Fastmobile
Link: www.fastmobile.com
fastmobile develops platforms that enable mobile network operators and other customers to integrate messaging, content access and other customized features in a single, clear and simple user interface.