The most recent Mobinet study, from consulting firm A.T. Kearney and the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, shows that shows that consumers are eager to use mobile data and content, yet uncertainty still exists.

The study has been conducted eight times since 2000 and uses a sample of 4000 mobile phone users in 21 countries. A few of the most interesting results from this most recent report includes:

• More than half of consumers say they are able to access multimedia services on their mobile devices
• Individuals with newer handsets are more willing to pay for multimedia services
• 56% of all multimedia phone owners now use mobile internet and email usage at least one message, up from 36% last year
• 33% of all multimedia phone owners download music, up from 21% last year
• 17% of all mobile users and 27% of teenagers say they are willing to pay for “time-critical and relevant content that can be easily viewed while on the move”
• Multimedia phone owners that do not use multimedia services listed uncertainty of cost, security and privacy, slow access, cost and poor content as reasons for not using these services
• 60% of customers expect to use their mobile phone for the majority of their calls this next year

Click here to download the full report (pdf).

O2 has signed a three-year £2.25 million deal with Arsenal for the exclusive mobile content rights to London’s football club’s matches. This deal follows a four-year deal £10 million O2 signed with Arsenal for the branding on players’ shirts, which ends this season. O2’s main sponsorship will now be given to the Millennium Dome, which is being renamed The O2 after a £6 million per year deal.

Telefonica, a mammoth Spanish telecom with major mobile networks in the south of Europe and Latin America, has made a bid to acquire UK’s biggest carrier, O2, for GBP 18 billion ($32 billion).

The bid is being recommended by O2’s board and will complete early next year if it is accepted by shareholders. Telefonica has announced that O2 will maintain its current branding with a headquarters in the UK.

Analysts see this expansion as a great move by Telefonica, as the two companies have little overlap in operations and O2 is known for pushing mobile data technologies such as i-mode in the UK.

In this month’s Official Xbox Magazine, places one of the first targets for sales volumes for the Xbox 360. At a recent gathering of industry analysts after presenting Microsoft’s financials, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell told the group that the company hopes to have 4.5 to 5.5 million consoles on the market by the middle of next year worldwide.

Liddell again reiterated a warning that launch volumes may be low but that the company was focusing on maintaining a steady flow of the console into retail lines.

A new report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers expects an accelerating growth in the global entertainment and media industries that will propel the sales from $1.3 trillion in 2004 to $1.8 trillion in 2009 (average growth of 7.3%). Of this, the global video game market will reach $55 billion in total software revenues by 2009, with the U.S. video game market making up $15.1 billion of this amount.

To reach this $55 billion sales prediction for the global video game industry, the market would have to grow at an average rate of 16.5% from its 2004 level of $25.4 billion. PWC defines the video game industry to include software, subscriptions and advertising, while excluding hardware and accessories.

Asia-Pacific will see substantial growth of 18% annual growth to raise its video game sales to $23.1 billion in 2009. The United States will see annual growth of 12.9% to reach PWC’s $15.1 billion prediction for the market. EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) will see the largest growth with an annual average of19.1% to increase its 2004 total of $6.0 billion to $14.3 billion in 2009.

While the market is growing, the pieces of the industry are beginning to shift. The PC game market will decrease from $771 million in 2004 to $655 million in 2009, and that is with the strong support from Latin America which is still seeing moderate growth. Console mobiles are showing substantial growth prior to the next-gen fixed console launch and will continue to remain strong. Outside of the more standard game market, mobile games on cellphones will see significant growth thanks to new innovations, with the U.S. along growing from $281 million in 2004 to $2.1 billion in 2009.

The 50 page full report can be purchased from PWC for $95.

==================
Related Articles

• Games Creating the World Versus New “Advancements”?
• Understanding and Innovation Needed for Location Based Games
• Eat Your Fruits And Vegetables – And Play Video Games

China’s Shenzhou VI is scheduled launch two Chinese taikonauts into Earth orbit at 3 a.m. GMT on Thursday, October 13th. The Chinese government has not released details but those close to development say the flight will expand on China’s first manned flight, which took place in 2003 and allowed for 14 orbits over 21 hours.

The Shanghai Morning Post reported in September that Zhai Zhingang and Nie Haisheng are in the running to be the taikonaut to pilot the flight.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that will ban the sale of any video game to those under 18 that “depict serious injury to human beings in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel”. This bill is similar to other laws recently passed in Michigan and Illinois. It is also similar to laws being challenged and already defeated.

Lawmakers believe laws of this nature will protect children from experiencing the “interactive nature of video game violence”. They point to studies that link violence in video games to violence and hostile actions in teenagers and preteens. There are numerous independent studies dispelling this connection as being no stronger than other forms of entertainment/media and even the positive effects of video games.

Even if the studies cited by lawmakers are correct and their intentions are genuine, laws of this nature will have little impact on minors’ access to mature and adult rated games for a number of reasons.

First, the laws leave the games covered by the ban up to interpretation. Many groups have already claimed that games that “depict serious injury to human beings in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel” could even include boxing, football and hockey sports games. Without a clear definition, law enforcement could adequately not enforce the law.

Second, police unions and groups across the county have already said that they have better things to do than run sting operations to catch stores selling violent video games to minors. Ask any 14 year old if they can buy a pack of cigarettes as proof of how well those bans have been enforced.

Finally, studies have shown that most video games are actually purchased by the adults in the household for their children (at the child’s request). This means that children will still have access to these games, and it is up to parents, not the government, to monitor what their children are playing.

Segway, the company best known for its two-wheel Human Transporter, will begin to license its smart-motion technology and know-how to other companies, and it will jointly develop new products with them.

The first technology license for Segway will be with Hong Kong-based Wow Wee. Wow Wee will use the Segway technology in its next generation of robotic entertainment products such as Robosapien, Roboraptor and Robopet.

U.S. automakers are complaining about the federal government’s plan to raise the average fuel efficiency of vehicles. A L.A Time article quotes Reg Modlin, head of environmental and energy planning for Chrysler Group, who claims that the proposed new bill would require fuel efficiency improvements of 2% to 2.2% per year and that this would be a “significant challenge” from the 1.5% per year seen over the past two decades.

In early September, we reported on the government’s proposed “symbolic change” to the fuel efficiency standards and asked you to contact your representatives asking for real changes. Many of you did (thanks to those that copied us on your letters and mentioned us) as did countless others that read our article thanks to bloggers spreading the word. It is good to see the government responding to the pressure from voters and not listening to lobbyists on this topic, but this is only a first step.

Even with these small required improvements, the U.S. will still be well behind other nations in average fuel efficiency. Automakers claim that this will be difficult and costly, but that should not be the case.

Improvements in powertrain efficiencies over the past 15 years would have shown large improvements in gas mileage in the States, but U.S. automakers have drastically improved the weight of vehicles during this same time, resulting in a net zero effect from these (and other) efficiency improvements.

Many people generally buy much larger vehicles than they need because 1) they have a false belief that they are safer 2) they feel that they may need the extra room at some point 3) marketing programs have done a great job of convincing people that they are “hip” if their vehicle can do something even if they will never use the vehicle for that purpose.

On safety topic, one common example heard is that “I will be crushed if I am driving a Civic that gets hit by an Expedition or Hummer”. There is an increased risk to smaller vehicles due to the ever increasing size of trucks/SUVs, but these larger vehicles have many additional risk factors that make them as dangerous, if not more (e.g. rollovers). Every vehicle has pluses and minuses in terms of risk, and in the case of the potential impact of larger vehicles causing more damage, insurance companies are beginning to raise rates even high on these vehicles, so the actual cost is increasing even more than by gas prices.

The next two desires that lead to people buying larger vehicles than they need go together. Most SUVs will never be taken off road (and pulling off a paved road into a grass parking lot or field does not count, since even a Dodge Neon can do this). Yet, SUVs and trucks have become “cool” because they could go through rugged trails if the desire (and time) was there. There are times when being able to load six to twelve people, with bags, will need to be done, but these are rare. Almost all consumers could save large amounts of money (purchase price, maintenance, fuel) by buying a smaller vehicle and renting or borrowing a larger one for those few instances.

The higher fuel prices seen in the States is quickly causing consumers to rethink vehicle choices. Automakers have responded by increasing the marketing and talk of hybrid vehicles, but major financial journals have said that the extra cost of hybrids do not make sense for most consumers and likely will not for a number of years.

Automakers are businesses and should be run as such, but they have a responsibility to the community at large to make vehicles for consumers’ actual needs. This means improving fuel efficiency technologies, lowering the weight of vehicles and anticipating consumers’ future needs. With the ever increasing shift from automakers to larger vehicles, this has not happened. Free market forces work well in the long-term, but sometimes it takes the government to step in and give a gentle nudge. The first automaker (foreign or domestic) to offer a real solution for consumers will see a definite improvement in sales and loyalty.

MFORMA, a publisher of mobile entertainment, has raised $30 million in its third round of institutional financing. Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) led the round of financing, which included participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and General Catalyst Partners.

Player X, a London-based mobile game publisher founded in early 2004, has raised $7 million in its first round of venture capital funding. Investors in this round include venture capitalist Arts Alliance and sports licensing firm Bullion International.

In addition, Player X has added SEGA veteran Nick Alexander as Chairman of its board of directors and Fox Kids Europe founder Ynon Kreiz as a non-executive board member.

Midway Games, based in Chicago, will acquire The Pitbull Syndicate, based in Newcastle for 199,385 shares of Midway (roughly $3.1 million based on current share price) to Pitbull owners.

In addition, Midway has agreed to provide 25,146 in additional shares to key employees as retention incentives. Pitbull employees who will receive retention incentives as part of the acquisition were named as Pete Brace, Ian Copeland, Gavin Freyberg, Jonathan Kay, Daren Kelly, Mark Leadbeater, Ben Marsh, Chris McClure, Stewart Neal, Mark Wilkinson, and Chris Wood.

Midway has worked closely with Pitbull on redesigning its L.A. Rush franchise (Xbox) (PS2), and the publisher stated in their announcement that Pitbull was working on several next generation projects for Midway.

Autodesk, creator of 3D Studio Max, has announced that it will acquire Alias, creator of the competing 3D tool Maya for $182 million in cash.

“This acquisition brings to Autodesk a highly talented group of individuals, a wealth of technologies and a great set of products,” said Carl Bass, COO of Autodesk. “Alias’ technology spans several of our most important markets and augments the synergy between our design and media businesses. Our design customers are demanding more powerful visualization, animation and publishing capabilities. Our media and entertainment customers are increasingly using the data created by our design applications for broadcast, film and games projects. By combining the technology and talents of our two companies, we will be better able to continue delivering solutions that address our customers’ complex needs.”

Autodesk has said that it will continue to develop and release the Alias product lines, which generated $83 million in revenue in the 12 months prior to June 30, 2005. For those interested in more details on the product effects of the acquisition, please visit the page Autodesk setup for customers of the products.

• Autodesk and Alias Fact Sheet
• Autodesk to acquire Alias FAQ
• Autodesk to acquire Alias PowerPoint presentation

Paul Glen has a great opinion piece on ComputerWorld about executives being constantly connected, through cell phone and “crack-berriers”, and the actual need to be constantly on-call.

The article talks about a need to help with problems or provide information, be seen as engaged, and a likely addiction to constantly monitoring their staff. Paul continue the article by pointing out that this “hyperconnectedness” can actually hurt projects and the team environment.

In a likely response to Google’s book scanning project, Yahoo has announced that it will work with partners to make electronic versions of books available online. The project will be run by the new Open Content Alliance (OCA) and books will be hosted by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit group created to offer access to historical collections that exist in digital format.

Most news organizations are reporting that Yahoo is taking a more cautious step than Google by announcing that it will only scan and digitize texts in the public domain, except where the copyright holder has expressly given permission. However, this leaves open the question of what “in the public domain” actually means.

Google has come under fire for scanning all books and saying that it will release full texts of books with expired or non-claimed copyrights, while offering full searching through all texts. Publishers have been up in arms about this practice, but the legal community (or rather those not affiliated with a publishing house or the publishing industry) has said that this usage likely falls under “fair use”.

Yahoo may not be allowing the searching through full texts of copyrighted books (yet), but the scanning and offering of full texts for books “in the public domain” may match with Google’s announced plans. We will have to wait for the details to see how Yahoo defines this. If Yahoo begins scanning and offering books where the copyright holder is unknown, publishers across the board and the Authors Guild will have another target, and Google may have another ally.