Some consolidation afoot in the maturing but still active area of WAP-based mobile content: American Mobile Ventures has acquired K2 Media for an undisclosed price. Together, AMV claims the two will be creating one of Europe’s largest mobile content companies.
Contrary to its name, American Mobile Ventures is actually based in the UK, although for a while it was owned by the U.S.-based Mandalay Media, which bought the firm in 2008 for $22 million but then sold it back to the founders in July 2010.
AMV runs a range of WAP mobile content sites that sell ringtones, wallpapers and other phone furniture, as well as services like mobile dating. AMV’s properties include Bling, Free4U, Mobile Mayhem, PlayON mobile jukebox and Free Date. The company says its services are available in 14 markets worldwide.
Meanwhile, UK-based K2 itself also operates a number of mobile content brands of its own, including Big Chilli, which is branded as a WAP-based content “megastore” reselling content from other publishers; “lads’ magazine” brand dbm; and What’s On TV Mobile, created in partnership with the IPC magazine of the same name.
It looks like the biggest area for development, though, will be the spinoff WAP site Chilli Music, which offers full-track downloads and albums from all the major labels and games from publishers like EA . The site has had 250,000 downloads since its launch in March 2010. K2 Media founder Steve Kitchen will stay on after the merger to run this operation, which will get an injection of funding from AMV and will expand to new markets outside the UK.
“AMV runs a range of WAP mobile content sites that sell ringtones, wallpapers and other phone furniture, as well as services like mobile dating.”
* Location awareness is for fun dating: for flirting, for entertainment purposes, for instant gratification, not for serious dating. Moreover women do not like that proposal at all (location awareness for dating purposes) because they think they are being hunt by men.
* As for Mobile Dating: I think mobile applications may be good for markets such as Korea and Japan, but I believe a ceiling has already been reached in North America and Europe.
Perhaps by 2014, the mobile concept will be diluted (or disappear) for dating purposes with the majority of subscribers using netbooks/iPads with mobile broadband modems, or WiFi, rather than smartphones.
I am featured in the Latest Mobile Social Web 2.0 Forecasts, Challenges & Regulations 2010-2014 from Juniper Research.