• by Tameka Kee , October 12, 2007

The mobile content and services feeding frenzy continues, as San Francisco-based SendMe has announced its acquisition of the mbuzzy online and mobile community.

Meanwhile, London-based Refresh Mobile has rolled out Mippin, a service that aggregates, displays and customizes content for a user's mobile Web experience.

Opportunities for marketers to "go mobile" with branded applications, sponsored content and standard mobile ads are bundled into both announcements.

San Mateo-based mbuzzy adds a social networking asset to SendMe's pair of mobile entertainment properties--SendMeMobile.com (a distribution network for ringtones, games and other interactive content) and SoLow.com (an SMS-based bidding game that users play to win prizes like electronics and trips).

With mbuzzy, users create a profile and share pictures, videos and other content via mobile phone or desktop. The off-deck service also allows for instant messaging, chat and status alerts--and it's not tied to any particular carrier or handset, maximizing the potential for market penetration.

The community reportedly has over 500,000 mobile users who have downloaded more than 15 million pieces of social media to their phones since its founding in 2003. Ryan Nobrega, mbuzzy's co-founder and CEO, will move into a senior executive role at SendMe.

Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to Russell Klein, SendMe's co-founder and CEO, the two companies had been in talks to work on joint projects for almost 8 or 9 months before the acquisition. "There's a fair amount of overlap between our tech platforms and typical user demographics," said Klein. "And over time it became evident that the best way to partner was to join forces."

Marketers have the option to create branded mbuzzy mobile microsites and use profile data to serve demo-targeted ads--linking a sponsorship-based service to SendMe's primarily user-paid service for mobile options. According to Klein, SendMe can now offer content publishers, entertainment and media providers as well as advertisers a piece of the mobile channel. "Partners can monetize their digital content through SendMe, monetize the audience through prizes and sweepstakes with SoLow, and engage that same audience over a longer period of time through experiences in mbuzzy," said Klein.

Meanwhile, Refresh Mobile's Mippin service is free and ad-supported from the outset. Accessible through Mippin.com, users can create a profile that remembers their favorite mobile content, from blogs like PerezHilton.com, to news and sports info, as well as content from publishers like GQ, Maxim and Glamour. Users can also vote on content and share it via SMS, email and social media sites like Twitter.

Advertisers like Coca-Cola and Sony Ericsson had previously worked with Refresh Mobile for branded 'Mobizines' (snippets of magazine articles and content for mobile phones)--but the service will be scaled back in favor of the more platform-, carrier- and handset-agnostic Mippin.com.

"Mobizines was innovative, but difficult to use because it wasn't built on a universal platform," said Scott Beaumont, cofounder and vice president, commercial for Refresh Media. "And while it will continue to exist in markets where there's demand, Mippin is more scalable for publishers."

Marketers have the option of building branded 'Mippsites' or running MMA-standard mobile banner, display and text ads within other content. French auto manufacturer Renault has signed on to run one of the first ad campaigns on Mippin.

The company aims to boost usage by working with mobile industry bloggers, including links to the service on publisher partner Web sites, as well as advertising on popular mobile sites and communities. Beaumont added that Refresh was in talks with the top four handset manufacturers for pre-installation deals, and ultimately planned to open-source the Mippin platform to mobile application developers.