• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Mobile Action Introduces FoneJoy Secure Content Delivery to Cellular Handsets at CTIA Wireless 2006

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

At CTIA Wireless 2006 this week, Mobile Action (http://usa.mobileaction.com), a global leader in mobile management software, will demonstrate FoneJoy, its newest technology to support multimedia entertainment on multimedia cellular handsets. Mobile Action's FoneJoy is a secure content delivery system that uses Internet connectivity and digital rights management (DRM) to provide secure delivery of MP3 music, video, games, and other content to cellular handsets.

Just as iTunes delivers music for playback on PCs and iPods, emerging wireless carrier services, such as Verizon V Cast and Sprint Music Store, are already delivering music for playback on cellular phones. However, these services often require customers to use wireless downloads which can consumer costly airtime for large music files. Mobile Action's FoneJoy provides content providers with a local-interface alternative that allows consumers to download content to their PCs using a Internet connection, then transfer data to their cellular handset via a USB, Bluetooth, or infrared link.

"Mobile Action already leads the global market in PC-to-cell phone connectivity, since our Handset Manager can connect more than 600 cellular phones to PCs for easy data exchange," said Rebecca Chir, content manager for FoneJoy. "With FoneJoy, we are applying the same technology and expertise to help carriers, content providers, and others capitalize on the emerging market for multimedia handsets."

FoneJoy consists of the FoneJoy Player music interface and the FoneJoy Server with DRM capabilities. The FoneJoy player is compatible with the other existing multimedia players. "FoneJoy can be customized as a plug-in feature that works with the content provider's own player interface, such as Microsoft Media Player, Yahoo! Music Engine and so on," Chir added. "Our objective is to offer a versatile platform designed to make it easier for content providers to enter the mobile multimedia business."

The FoneJoy player is made available to content providers to offer to customers for download from the web. It supports DRM to authenticate the number of devices that can play back purchased content. It also provides the software interface to manage file transfers to and from cellular handsets via a USB cable, infrared link, or Bluetooth. And FoneJoy Player includes a playlist feature so users can organize their music and media files, and create a playlist for use on their mobile phones, so users can turn their mobile phones into iPod-like players and enjoy mobile entertainment.

The FoneJoy Server handles the media transaction, including protection of copyrighted content by limiting the number of playbacks and downloads, similar to iTunes. The FoneJoy Server authenticates and authorizes all requests for purchase and playback from the FoneJoy Player using DRM, including the number of playbacks and the number of devices. FoneJoy Server can be configured to manage customer transactions to fit any business model, e.g. a subscription basis, pay-per-download, or any other transaction model for music, video, or Java games.

"We deliberately designed FoneJoy to be adaptable to any transaction model to give content providers maximum flexibility," said Chir. "Service provider partners can offer FoneJoy software free for download, or if they already have their own player interface, as value-added plug-in for cellular phone users. Our transaction server can support any kind of licensing model."

FoneJoy is already being used in the Asia-Pacific market. Rock Mobile, the digital music division of Rock Records serving the Chinese market, has already licensed FoneJoy to power its online music operation. The combination of FoneJoy and Rock Mobile Music has already been adopted by phone manufacturers and is being offered as a standard features in Sony Ericsson and BenQ-Siemens phones for the Asian market. Mobile Action is currently negotiating with other content providers and phone manufacturers in Europe, Asia and North America.

For more information about FoneJoy, visit Mobile Action online at www.mobileaction.com.

About Mobile Action

Mobile Action is the leading developer of mobile management software for the North American, European, Middle Eastern, Asia/Pacific, South American, and South/West African markets. The company's Handset Manager, Mobile Action's trademarked mobile management software, links cellular phones with PCs and allows users to store and edit files, phone book information, appointments, ring tones, images, and more. Handset Manager supports all the major North American carriers, and more than 600 popular GSM, CDMA and 3G mobile phone models from well-known mobile manufacturers, including Nokia, Motorola, SAMSUNG, LG, Sony Ericsson, Sanyo, BenQ-Siemens, Sharp, Panasonic, Sagem, Kyocera, Audiovox, etc. Visit Mobile Action at http://usa.mobileaction.com.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category