VizaOzavi and other bull's eyes

What's in a name ? With zaOza*, Vivendi decided to drop 2 "vi"s at the edge of Vizzavi, and to add a bull's eye in the middle. Like : this time, I don't want to mess around but to go for the real thing ?... Maybe they purchased Activision to enhance their eyesight and optimize their chances to hit the said bull's eye.

Vodafone and Telefonica are into better targeting too : the Anglo-saxon leader and the Latino leader took a stake in Amobee Media Systems, a mobile advertising joint.

The Shoogle application must target Parkinson disease victims, blurring the frontier between handsets and handshakes. Next time you go to the pub, don't forget to fill her up with scotch.

SMobile Systems targets the soft spot of mobile linux : the first Android app is as sexy and useful as Norton. SecurityShield is the name, paving the way for developpers the game.

Elsewhere :

- NFC takes the tube - the London Underground before a greater coming out ?
- Outdoors, the OFCOM allows UK Broadband switch from TD-CDMA to WiMAX. If they can make it, that is. WiMAX seems to be losing ground in the US, where Verizon picks LTE.
- Korea keeps migrating at high speed : HSDPA claims 3.2 M subs end of Q3 2007 (2.02 for KTF). Users are discovering the beauty of (U)SIM cards and the easyness to drop a handset or an operator for another.
- Turned down by Sprint-Nextel (while KTF and DoCoMo snatched each 17% of U Mobile in Malaysia), SK Telecom takes 38.89% of Hanaro Telecom (including a 25% market share in fixed broadband). SKT discovers true convergence even later than Vodafone - and postpones a much needed boost in internationalization.


* the commercial name of "Vivendi Mobile Entertainment : Vizzavi's Second Life ? " (20070526)

Li cashing : it's now or never

UMTS TDD Alliance members will hold a meeting around Nov. 9-11 and NFC Forum members around Nov. 7-11 but don't expect the latter to have twice as much fun. Sprint and T-Mobile's Czech unit, who recently joined the Alliance following their trials at home, must have appreciated the interesting way an other IPWireless customer, UK Broadband, found for cashing in from their 3.5GHz spectrum or, as Vodafone would put it, to "Make the most of now".
This PCCW Ltd subsidiary expects £100M from their competitor : UK Broadband rebranded Netvigator "now", a word at the core of Voda's new advertising campain.
The fact is "now" is the brand at the core of PCCW's new strategy : in Hong-Kong, Netvigator is the access service provider's brand and now TV the media / content brand. Almost 2/3 of all Netvigator customers subscribe to now and PCCW are thinking globally. They merged their international section with BtN Access, Inc, a wholy owned subsidiary (that's for Beyond the Network, which sums it up) in order to create a new vehicle, PCCW Global.
And right now, this vehicle takes only two roads outside of Hong-Kong : Asia through China Netcom or Unihub IT, and "Europe" through UK Broadband. Plus Victor Li's group re-entered mobility through Sunday and MobileOne.
But Victor has also been confirmed as Li Ka-shing's successor. UK Broadband looks so small compared to his dad's flamboyant Oranges and Threes. Beyond Trinity Time Investments Inc, you want to watch how Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa could evolve in Europe. And we're not only talking about shopping at Marionnaud's.