UK mobile network Three has signed Aardman Animations, creators of the Wallace and Gromit series of animations, to supply video "snack" content. Has the Aardman’s ‘Angry Kid’ series of video shorts which are paid downloads, but this new package is ad-supported, and will feature old favourites such as Creature Comforts, A Town Called Panic, Purple & Brown and Morph. 3's ad-supported video service is operated by Rhythm NewMedia.

"Launching an ad-supported service is the next step in a strategy, which will continue Aardman's leadership in mobile animation services," said Robin Gladman, digital product manager at Aardman Animations.

moblog:tech, the new name for UK moblogging pioneers MoblogUK, has entered a new phase and is now looking for an 'equity for investment' deal.

The privately owned moblog:tech (MT) launched Moblog.co.uk in 2003 and is now now one of Europe’s biggest moblogging community sites. In fact pictures from the London bombings appeared first on the site, showing at the time that the emerging phenomena of 'citizen journalism' and user generated content could have dramatic impact on new events.

Moblogging - as they define it - is the process of posting online images, audio and video from mobile phones. Right now the site generates advertising and subscriber revenues, and features "Promoblogs". These are branded promotional websites to which a rock band, or event or a community can send content from their mobiles. These are then customised or held as standalone micro-sites, and are also featured within the moblog:UK community. Clients pay a license fee for a 3-month or annual Promoblogs.

MT also offers the Participation Toolkit which allows them to create a separate white-label moblogging community site for a client and their target audience. This is possibly their most valuable asset at this time, outside of the online community of MoblogUK. A major client for this so far is Channel 4's Big Art Mob project.

MT has a pretty experienced 5-person management team which includes, Mat Brown and Ben Godfrey (tech), Jonathan Allen (community), Lori Faye Fischler and Alfie Dennen (sales and marketing).

Dennen is also well known starting the "We are not afraid" viral campaign after the London bombings of July 2005.

Dating site Match.com is to launch a mobile web and text service for mobile phones in the UK, US and Canada, expanding out to a further nine countries by the end of the year.

Subscribers will be able to search Match.com from their mobile's browsers and receive an SMS text message whenever another user sends them a message. According to research firm M:Metrics 3.6 million US mobile users made use of a mobile dating service in May 2007.

An earlier version of Match.com for mobile phones was used by nearly half a million subscribers, but the new service will allow subscribers to tap into Match.com's database of nearly 15 million registered users.

Here in the UK two startups will be keenly interested in this news. Flirtomatic which has been playing in the SMS flirting game for a while now and newer startup Flirtnik.com.

It looks like 02 has swiped the Apple iPhone from the clutches of Vodafone, according to breaking news reports. Although 02 itself is denying it. For now...

UPDATE: A well placed tbites source at a rival network with no interest in spinning the story tells us the iPhone has "definitely" gone to 02 in the UK. What everyone is not sure about yet is if this is just going to be the US / 2.5G version, or which operator will get the license for the 3G version of the iPhone which is due to appear at the end of this year/beginning of next. What is also puzzling some industry observers is why 02 wants the iPhone when it is already the leading UK network, and is therefore not in as much need of an extra 500,000 customers (as were attracted to AT&T in the US). The plot thickens...

According to reports starting to leak out from reliable sources, a new 3G version of the iPhone may be launched Monday in the UK in a joint promotion with Vodafone, T-Mobile, and UK phone retailer Carphone Warehouse as an MVNO.

A report in the London Evening Standard newspaper (no link available) yesterday hinted that Vodafone would be the official carrier in Europe, but Newswireless (run by long-time mobile journalist Guy Kewney) today says Apple is going with three carriers in Europe to answer criticisms folllowing its exclusive deal with AT&Tin the US. The announcement is slated for Monday but an actual shipment date for the 3G iPhone is unknown, although it is looking like the year-end.

Vodafone recently launched flat-rate data charges for its under-used 3G network, making it a good platform for the iPhone, while T-Mobile has positioned itself for a while as a flat-rate "Web and Walk" carrier. Carphone Warehouse, though a left-field choice, is said to be in the frame as a MVNO carrier in the UK. The American version, using only 2G phone technology, goes on sale in the US today.

On the eve of its launch, courtesy of Frukt Music, comes an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the iPhone:

Strengths:

- Apple approach: a)great product, b)simple usability, c) clear communication

- Dual-contact touch screen, twice the resolution of average computer screen, full-detail web pages with easy zoom-in feature, easy-view photo software, extra Google maps functionality (traffic details, fake GPS), easy music/phonecall switchover via headphone button, integrated email, phone and web features and other technological advancements will appeal to early adopter Apple fans

- Relies on tried-and-tested iTunes software – already a hit with consumers

- Easy to activate iPhone at home using iTunes

- YouTube link-up allows users to view videos over WiFi

Weaknesses:

- Apparently no way to record video – so no instant uploads to YouTube

- Sealed-in battery. Must send it back to Apple for a replacement.

- No memory card slot

- Over-the-air content delivery not part of initial iPhone plan (although not a critical concern: for every iPod bought, only 20 tracks on average are iTunes purchased, most are transferred from CD or illegally downloaded)

- Strength/Weakness: High price point ($499/$599 at launch) will only attract early adopters (J.D. Power: Typical U.S. phone user in 2006 paid $94 for a mobile). Although, for the initial model, perhaps early adopters are the sole target market (modest Apple sales targets of 10M globally by 2008, less than 1% of the mobile handset market)

About-nokia.com: According to Finnpanel 1.6 million Finns (older than 9 years) have a radio on their cell phone. That's 36 % of the finnish population (in 2005 the figure was 17%).

Qualcomm’s MediaFlo says it will beat DVB-H installations by year end. MediaFlo expects to overtake its TV-to-mobile rivals by the end of the year, helped by distribution and take-up on two main US wireless networks (Verizon and AT&T), a surge in Italy and its Korean DMB system. Speaking at BroadcastAsia, Omar Javaid, VP/business development for MediaFlo said MediaFlo also has a commitment from Japan’s KDDI to start transmissions, while Nokia's patent counter-suit against Qualcomm, alleging it had infringed six patents in its MediaFlo mobile TV technology and in its Brew technology, had not had impact on the business.

Sony is going to allow PlayStation Portable (PSP) owners make VoIP and video calls using a camera and microphone which will hit the shops on 25 May. Gamers will be able to call other PSP owners and some BT phones. BT is developing the software, which was originally intended for the Nintendo handheld. The BBC reports the service will initially only be available in the UK and will only work on home or BT wireless hotspots, of which there are 2,000 so far. There are 24 million PSPs sold globally, eight million in the UK. Interestingly, this will be one of the first applications of BT's 21 Century Network (21CN).

It's not clear as yet, but it sounds like you will only be able to make calls if you are a BT customer already, meaning you'll have to log-in with a customer ID to the network. We wait to be enlightened...

Mobile handsets capable of displaying TV will hit 244 million by 2011, according to the Multimedia Research Group in the US. That's double the number previously forecast for the uptake rate expected in 55 countries. Big leaps are expected in 2009 when 53 million broadcast TV enabled handsets are expected to ship. The bulk of the 80 mobile TV trials all over the world will become genuine services. Most will be good enough to watch for 30 minutes at a time. According to the report, service revenues from the global mobile TV market will exceed $24bn annually by 2011, with Western Europe likely to lead in revenue terms at over $10bn, followed by the USA and Canada at $7.7bn, and China and the Far East at $5bn.

If the rumour that T-Mobile is in the front line to take the iPhone in Europe then the new rumour that the Apple iPhone will also be available on a pre-paid contract is pretty interesting. The Boygeniusreport.com says they got a few screen shots sent to them which show internal AT&T account codes showing the iPhone available to Pay As You Go subscribers with AT&T in the US. This would widen the market for the iPhone considerably, especially in the US where customers are generally locked into contracts for a long time. If the iPhone is pre-paid in Europe then expect a massive run on the phones - and yet more power to the iTunes music store.

The online personalised music streaming service Pandora has signed a deal with US carrier Sprint to be pre-installed or downloaded to handsets. Pandora and other web broadcasters have been heavily hit by recent increases in the licensing fees for web broadcasters in the US. Pandora has also had to stop streaming outside the US. The new Sprint venture means a badly needed extra revenue stream on top of advertising. Pandora says it has 6.9 million registered listeners. Pandora founder Tim Westergren says if the new royalty scheme stays then the business no longer makes sense.

German investors the Samwer brothers have invested an undisclosed amount in Twitter clone Frazr.com, reports alarmclock europe, following a story from a German trade title. Germans are really taking to micro-blogging via SMS using Wamadu, Faybl, 1you, Sloggen, and Partnr.de. Does Germany really need five Twitter clones? Most were launched in March/April. You decide...

T-Mobile is partnering with ARTISTdirect.com, an independent music site, to improve its music and video download offering to mobiles and allows users to access content from live music events and gigs. Customers will be able to download music, videos and photos from acts featured in the site’s Street Gigs series. T-Mobile will also offer gig listings, ticket sales, news, exclusive interviews and backstage footage. The ARTISTdirect network has 40 million unique visitors worldwide, with four million of them coming from the UK.

Interesting times over at Pitch.tv, the mobile entertainment and community service from Pitch Entertainment Group.

Pitch Mobile Social Network is a mobile service that takes the best of sites like Myspace, Flickr and Youtube and mashes them all into a single site you can access via your mobile or the Web.

Tom Gordon a lead developer in this effort has been working on the project for the past 9 months, especially on multiple types of chat, picture and video uploading and downloading, sharing, commenting and rating. Sophisticated stuff.

Tom also happens to blog over at Mobile Weblog and today he writes that:

"the parent company has decided to focus on other aspects of their subscription-based mobile content business, and not on the social networking aspects, which means the time has come for me to move on."

Tom is now looking for new projects.

What could this all mean? I've emailed Pitch for comment, so I'll update this post when they come back to me.

For now, however it appears that this sophisticated application may no longer be developed. Perhaps it was too early for the market? It's hard to tell the business reasoning behind this move right now, especially in a market which is buzzing about the mobile social web because of the hype around Twitter and the like.