Jamster
Jamba!
is a mobile phone content provider, based in Berlin,
Germany. In China and the company's English-speaking
markets, currently Australia, Ireland, New Zealand,
the United Kingdom and the United States, the
company trades under the name Jamster!.
Jamba!'s
main line of business is the creation and marketing
of ringtones for mobile phones. It is perhaps
best known for the Sweety the Chick and Crazy
Frog characters. The company also sells insurance
for mobile phones and home electronics and runs
online gaming and online dating services. In 2005
it started doing business in the United States
and China.
History
The
company was founded in Berlin's Kreuzberg district
in 2000.
VeriSign
was a successful internet security company that
had a series of product lines that connected mobile
network companies' text message networks together
securely - in 2004, about 3 billion per day. VeriSign
CEO Stratton Sclavos recognised that with VoIP
products developing, the revenues could decrease,
and so he hired Vernon Irvin as Executive Vice
President and General Manager of VeriSign’s
Communications Services division to solve the
problem. Irvin saw good but technical and expensive
products, but saw the volumes of exchange over
the system as the solution.
In
late 2004 under Irvin's direction, VeriSign bought
Jamba for $270 million. Jamba at the time built
mobile applications, games, ringtones and wallpapers,
and was also in over 40 countries worldwide. The
VeriSign team had recognised that there were twice
as many mobile phones than computers, which also
had built-in computer technology. Effectively,
VeriSign now had a new content distribution platform
which also integrated with the internet, which
was both secure and auditable - now all they needed
was the content.
VeriSign
relocated Jamba's HQ Office to the well known
Dom Aquarée in the center of Berlin.
While
Irvin sourced content, Jamba became Jamster in
the United States. Irvin struck a deal with Kevin
Liles, President of Warner Music Group, to provide
mobile consumers with early access to hip-hop
artist Mike Jones' debut album "Who Is Mike
Jones?" - in return, Jones created the first
artist-endorsed Jamster ring-tone advertisement
in the US. When "Who is Mike Jones"
was released it debuted among the top 5 albums
on the Billboard charts and went on to sell over
a million copies. The Crazy Frog ring tone did
the same in Europe.
Jamba/Jamster
boomed - when VeriSign bought the business it
had a turnover of $15 million per quarter and
3 quarters later this increased to $150 million
a quarter - in 2005 the company made close to
$600 million in revenue. VeriSign expanded Jamba/Jamster
by the acquisitions of UNC-Embratel and Unimobile.
Jamster also added to its revenues by adding "impulse
purchasing" - when you downloaded one ringtone,
you were offered others. This turned into interactive
advertising, for which the mobile owner was charged,
sometimes unknowingly. This created controversy
in Europe, and was quickly withdrawn.
Later
developments included finding the next American
supermodel in liaison with L'Oreal, where people
sent in pictures; while VeriSign Back-Up means
that if your mobile phone was stolen, you could
re-download the MP3 music tracks to your replacement
handset.
On
12 September 2006 News Corporation announced it
will pay approximately $188 million for 51% shares
in Jamba! and would combine it with Fox Mobile
Entertainment assets[2], such as Mobizzo, with
Lucy Hood, formerly President of Fox Mobile Entertainment,
becoming CEO of the joint venture. On 23 October
2006 it was announced that Vernon Irvin would
join XM Satellite Radio as Chief Marketing Officer
(Credit:
Wikipedia).
About
Jamster.
Jamster
is Europe\'s leading provider of mobile entertainment
with a wide choice of mobile phone downloads:
polyphonic and monophonic ringtones, real music
tones, true tones, mobile phone java games, colour
wallpapers, animated screensavers, colour backgrounds,
mobile video, mobile karaoke, colour logos, mobile
phone themes, operator logos, picture messages,
SMS and MMS info channels, sexy downloads and
much more.
Voted
for by a panel of over 300 mobile industry executives,
Jamster has been awarded the title of Best D2C
Aggregator for 2006, for the revolutionary Crazy
Frog advertising campaign by Mobile Entertainment
magazine. Tim Green, executive editor of Mobile
Entertainment, said: "These awards recognised
the talent and hard work that is making mobile
content the world\'s most exciting new industry.
It was a truly amazing night and we look forward
to doing it all again next year - in a bigger
room."
Winning
the Best D2C Aggregator 2006 shows successful
marketing and overall awareness for driving mobile
entertainment in the industry. It also proves
Jamster\'s creativity in approaching and making
the most of its available resources.
Thomas Richter, Senior Content Manager of Jamster,
said: "Thank you all, this means really a
lot to the boys back in the office. And it seems
to me, you want more Crazy Frog commercials."
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