New Media Age articles from January 2002

New Media Age archives from January 2002

BBC technology breaks into mobile with 3G collaboration.
January 10, 2002... BBC Technology is putting the finishing touches to plans for its first major wireless project, which will see it working with a large external partner on a 3G initiative. The high-profile project, known internally as ARK, will see BBC...

ASA rules against 'fake' banner ads.(Advertising Standards Authority ruling)
January 10, 2002... The future of banner execution has been thrown into confusion this week following a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA ruled that a banner advertising 888 Casino which was placed on a BT Web site misled users as it...

Genie and Diageo in deal for SMS ads.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Diageo subsidiary Nightfly has become the first wireless marketing company to secure a joint marketing agreement with a mobile network operator. The company has formed a partnership with Genie, the mobile Internet business of mm02, that...

Girland launches free SMS service with fontastic. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Teen girls site girland.com has launched its first free text messaging service after teaming up with SMS provider Fontastic.net. The deal will let Girland's 200,000 members send up to five free SMSs a day and is the first in a number of product...

Virgin.net unveils details of 24seven friaco package. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Virgin.Net has finally taken the wraps off its friaco package, Virgin.Net 24seven, which will offer unmetered access for [pounds sterling]15 a month. The new package will go head to head with AOL and Freeserve's Anytime offering, and will...

Whitecross to provide data analysis for CNN.com Europe. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Business and customer intelligence company WhiteCross Systems has been selected by CNN to provide in-depth data analysis on CNN.com Europe. The analysis provided by WhiteCross tracks users on the site within isolated time periods in order to...

WMA and WAA merge to be global mobile marketing body.(Wireless Marketing Association and the Wireless Advertising Association forming Mobile Marketing Association)
January 10, 2002... The Wireless Marketing Association and the Wireless Advertising Association have merged to become the Mobile Marketing Association. The move creates a single selfregulatory body for the wireless marketing sector and ends months of confusion...

Yahoo! takes espotting over overture for Europe.
January 10, 2002... Yahoo! has pulled out of talks with pay-for-performance search giant Overture to sign a first Europe-wide deal with rival Espotting Media. The European alliance, which covers the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, will see the top five...

Another.com goes up for sale. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Another.com, the one-time free email service, has been put up for sale by its owners and main backer. The move has been driven by the economic climate making it difficult to remain independent. CEO Steve Bowbrick said there was little...

Vizzavi shifts focus to paid-for content.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Vizzavi Vizzavi has announced a revised business model, with parents Vodafone and Vivendi Universal placing the mobile portal's focus firmly on premium content. The news came this week as part of a restructuring programme involving...

Channel 4 prepares to launch first interactive ads for Renault.
January 10, 2002... Channel 4 is set to launch its first ever interactive ads on 31 January, with Renault as the first advertiser. The service, which will be on the Sky Digital platform, will make Channel 4 the first terrestrial broadcaster to enter the market...

E-shops claim best Christmas.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... UK e-tailers are claiming their most successful online Christmas to date, with some reporting sales up by 150% on the same period last year. While definitive results have yet to materialise, anaylsts' predictions of a healthy e-Christmas...

MSN lures FMCGs with awareness tracking.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... MSN hopes to attract a number of major FMCG brands to advertise online for the first time, having inked a deal to measure brand-awareness on the portal. The agreement with Dynamic Logic will enable advertisers on MSN to measure the...

Yahoo! signs euro weather deals.
January 10, 2002... Yahoo! has signed a Europe-wide deal with The Weather Channel to give users weather news from weather.co.uk and daswetter.com. The deal will allow Yahoo users in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK access to...

Valueclick plans move into third party sales. (News - Breaking).
January 10, 2002... Digital marketing specialist ValueClick has outlined plans to enter the third-party ad sales arena, taking on Sarah Escott, former sales head at 24/7 Media, as European sales director. According to European MD Carl White, it will target three...

Keen sales rise fivefold. (News - Breaking).
January 10, 2002... Keen.co.uk, the consumer advice site, has announced that its sales have leapt by 500% in the last quarter of 2001. Keen, which generates revenue from consumer phone calls, says it received a high percentage of calls for psychic and horoscope...

Pace move into US boosted by 17% rise in profits. (News - Breaking).(Pace Micro Technology)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Set-top box maker Pace Micro Technology says expansion into the US is going well, revealing a pre-tax profit rise of 17%. Turnover rose 4.9% to [pound sterling]215.8m for the 26 weeks to 1 December, against [pound sterling]205.8m for that...

Warthog teams with cash-U to develop wireless games. (News - Breaking).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Games developer Warthog is to bolster its wireless games offering by teaming up with Israeli wireless entertainment firm Cash-U to develop new games. The first will be different formats with Scott Adams's Ghost Town developed for WAP and Charm...

Net searchers targets ISPs with partner programmes. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Net Searchers, the online brand and domain name protection arm of Virtual Internet, has launched a new partner programme targeting ISPs and telecommunications companies and signed BT Openworld as its first customer. BT Openworld will now be...

Verisign extends dominance with .TV corporation buyout. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Digital trust services company VeriSign has extended its dominance of the Internet's most popular domain names with the purchase of the .tv Corporation. The $45m ([pounds sterling]31.3m) buyout gives VeriSign registration rights to all .tv...

Manchester digital clocks up registrations in the North West. (News).
January 10, 2002... Manchester Digital, the trade association formed by businesses to promote Manchester's digital sector, has already received 50 registrations from north-west companies. Companies that have signed up to the initiative include Royal Bank of...

Greenwick enables easier time zone trading for businesses. (News).
January 10, 2002... The latest version of the Greenwich Electronic Time (GET) Global Time application is due to be launched on 15 January, enabling international business managers to trade more easily across time zones. GET was launched by Prime Minister Tony...

GetMusic gets pushed aside as vivendi focuses on pressplay. (News).
January 10, 2002... Vivendi Universal has quietly dropped plans to bring its entertainment site GetMusic to Europe and is instead now focusing its energies on launching Pressplay, its music distribution service partnership with Sony. The GetMusic team, headed...

Vitaminic acquisition gives Protein a boost. (News).
January 10, 2002... Online music marketing consultancy Protein says that the acquisition of its parent, Peoplesound, by Vitaminic has helped it to widen its focus to include clients in the media and branded consumer goods businesses. Italy-based digital music...

Iobox plans in-game ads for mobile gaming. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Iobox is on the verge of launching the first in-game advertising for mobile gaming. The company is in talks with a number of big name advertisers, including Microsoft, and ad agencies. It expects to launch the first in-game mobile...

Sluggish cable TV ads market makes respond retreat to US.
January 10, 2002... The long-anticipated roll-out of fully enhanced advertising on cable digital TV has been hit by leading infrastructure provider Respond TV's decision to pull out of the UK and Europe. The US interactive TV firm has closed down its European...

Expedia starts new campaign.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Expedia, the online travel company, is launching its annual branding campaign this month with a six-figure media campaign. The branding campaign will use radio, TV, outdoor, leaflets, train and Tube advertising, plus SMS advertising. The...

Moneysupermarket to power up finance pages.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Moneysupermarket has embarked on an offline strategy to power the personal finance recommendation pages of UK national newspapers. The personal finance aggregator site is working with its roster of newspaper partners to increase traffic...

Derby county becomes the next football club radio station. (News).
January 10, 2002... Digital radio station Radio First will launch its fourth football club radio station this Saturday (12 January) when Derby County's Rampage goes live. The station, which will be a mix of music and football news, will be broadcast live on Derby...

The link extends mobile entertainment with max it up. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... High street retailer The Link has extended its Max It Up range of boxed mobile entertainment products with the launch of Musical Phone Calls. Sold in a DVD-style box at The Link stores for [pound sterling]5, the product enables users to record...

101Cd.com to use smartcred technology for online buying. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Smartcreds, the online payment system, has signed up 101CD.COM, the online retailer, as the latest retailer to use its technology. The deal means that 101 CD users can now shop without having to using credit or debit cards. Over 65 retailers...

Telegraph site prepares to charge for online crossword. (News).
January 10, 2002... Telegraph.co.uk is set to relaunch its online crossword competitions in the next two weeks in the run-up to charging for the service. The competitions will be free for an initial period before being offered on a pay-for-use basis. Cash prizes...

Sky gives boost to iTV sector with news of 7m Active users. (News).
January 10, 2002... Sky has given a timely boost to the young iTV industry by reporting that since the start of last year over 7m people have used its interactive service Sky Active. The digital TV giant overhauled its interactive strategy at the start of the...

Funds save mediawave. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Webcast expert Media-Wave has been rescued from administration and has restructured itself into two new divisions targeting live events and the corporate market. The business, which made its name with MSN on the Madonna Brixton Academy...

Ryanair email ad criticised. (News).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Low-cost flights site Ryanair.com has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority for an email ad offering fares at as little as [pounds sterling]1. Ryanair has faced 10 ASA complaints in the last three years for offline ads. This...

Lucent sells off 80% of new ventures group to UK buyer. (Finance).
January 10, 2002... Lucent has sold 80% of its corporate incubator, New Ventures Group (NVG), to London-based Coller Capital, highlighting the difficulties in the once stable corporate venturing sector. The US telecoms giant says it will be now able to focus...

Earthport rejoins market. (Finance).
January 10, 2002... Online payment firm Earthport has made a successful return to the market alter six months suspension, putting together [pounds sterling]4.1m in funding and a new management team. The firm has raised [pounds sterling]1m from existing and new...

Lost sales cost 2M invest profit. (Finance).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Danish tech investor 2M Investfailed to meet its profit targets for 2001, after rejecting several offers for its portfolio firms at the end of 2001. It had expected to sell up to six of its investments in November and December, two in...

DDD first to list in 2002 with [pounds serling]7m float. (Finance).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... DDD Group enjoyed a good start to trading on AIM, as the firm became the first new technology listing of the year. It sold 10.8m shares at 65p each to raise [pounds sterling]7m, valuing it at [pounds sterling]22.75m. It saw shares climb 16%...

African lakes raises [pounds sterling]0.5m. (Finance).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... African Lakes, the Londonlisted firm which owns Africa Online, has confirmed it has raised [pounds sterling]550,000 through a share placing. It sold just over 8m shares at 6.77p each to existing institutional shareholders. The transaction was...

Emondo faces insolvency. (Finance).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Online retailing software firm Emondo.com has admitted its future is in doubt after failing to find new backers. In a statement CEO Fabio Cavalli said: "The immediate prospects are extremely uncertain and the company will need to cease trading...

WTH rises from travel slump. (Finance).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... World Travel Holdings (WTH), owner of Deckchair.com and Flights.com, saw turnover rise 545% in the third quarter of last year, compared to Q3 2000. The company booked a pre-tax loss of [pounds sterling]1.3m on turnover of [pounds...

Cube8 EGM votes for closure. (Finance).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Shareholders at Cube8's EGM last Friday approved a reverse takeover by delivery service Room Service. Room Service will now look for as many exits as possible from the old Cube8 portfolio, with COO Steve Masters co-ordinating this. Masters has...

Waiting for the next tide. (Investor Speak).
January 10, 2002... WARREN BUFFET SAID: "When the tide goes out, you can see who was swimming naked." Well, 2001 was a year of much nudity and embarrassed running from the beach for many VCs and the companies they funded. So what does 2002 hold in store for...

Izodia keeps investors guessing over crucial 04 trading results. (Finance).
January 10, 2002... Trading hub software firm Izodia is staying tight-lipped about its fourth-quarter performance, which could be crucial for its future. The firm is expected to be under renewed scrutiny over the coming months as investors wait to see if it'll...

Marketwatch. (Finance).
January 10, 2002... THERE WERE HEALTHY RISES across the main market indicators over the Christmas and New Year period, with the TechMark, FTSE 100 and Nasdaq all posting rises. Best performer was the TechMark 100 which was up 7.5% over the three weeks to 1,552...

Deal focus. (Finance).(IconMedialab merges with Lost Boys)
January 10, 2002... Who's involved? IconMedialab, the Swedish Internet agency, and Lost Boys, an Amsterdam-based Web agency. What are they up to? The two firms are merging to strengthen their position in the market. How will it work? Both companies have...

Akamai claims first-round win in dispute with digital Island. (Technology).
January 10, 2002... The dispute between content delivery infrastructure companies Akamai and Digital Island concerning patents over content delivery looks likely to rumble on, following a US court decision that has seen both parties claiming victory. The case...

Omne to use Infospace for DSL network launch. (Technology).(Omne Communications contract for DSL network)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... UK cable operator Omne Communications has appointed Web services specialist Infospace to develop a multi-access portal for its soon-to-launch high-speed DSL network. The portal will be launched early this year and will coincide with Omne's...

IBM tools up for web services. (Technology).(IBM's Web Services Hosting Technology)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... IBM has launched a set of tools that it says will allow developers and service providers to easily create, host and monitor Web services. IBM's Web Services Hosting Technology is a set of management tools that support revenue generating Web...

Online raffles for charities. (Technology).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Charity Technology Trust has launched a technology package which will enable charities to bring raffle ticket selling online. The raffling technology is the first in an upcoming range of products designed to help charities integrate online...

Census site gets poor result from keynote systems. (Technology).(Keynote Systems)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Research by Keynote Systems, the Web performance testing company, shows that the best time to access the 1901 census site is between lam and 7am, with only a 10-second download time. The research is embarrassing reading for the Government,...

Hewlett-Packard teams with net insight for conferencing. (Technology).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Hewlett-Packard has partnered with broadband infrastructure provider Net Insight to launch a system enabling video conferencing via an uncompressed video signal. A demo network offering 27Omb/s raw video has been launched in Sweden, with a...

TDK systems and Nokia to launch kit for bluetooth. (Technology).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... TDK Systems has teamed up with Nokia to launch an out of the box kit providing Bluetooth connectivity to a Nokia 6210 handset. The kit includes a Nokia 6210 Bluetooth battery and an interactive tutorial and installation CD. In addition there's...

Palm launches software for greater compatibility. (Technology).(Palm Desktop 4.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
January 10, 2002... Palm has taken the wraps off its Palm Desktop 4.0 software for Mac OS X which it said will offer improved handheld-to-desktop data compatibility, vCard and vCal support, and the ability to use multiple languages. The new software allows Mac OS...

DWP employs DNA to design interactive TV pensions service. (Agencies).(Department of Work and Pensions)
January 10, 2002... DNA, the digital marketing agency, has been appointed by the Department of Work and Pensions to design its new iTV information service, which is scheduled for launch in spring this year. The service, which will be built and broadcast by...

Entranet texts staff to inform of firm closure. (Agencies).(American backer General Atlantic Partners declines further funding)
January 10, 2002... Interactive agency Entranet has finally bitten the bullet and ceased trading after its American backer General Atlantic Partners (GAP) declined to fund it any longer. Entranet's 70 staff were informed of the decision to cease trading four...

Good integrates with Outrider. (Agencies).(Good Technology)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Good Technology has restructured and boosted its management team as it looks forward to tighter integration within the Outrider group. The Tempus-owned digital agency of 60 staff saw its turnover rise by 10% to [pounds sterling]3m in 2001,...

Rade New Media designs site for fine chocolate supplier. (Agencies).(Cooks of Swanton)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Rade New Media, the digital design agency, has redesigned the Web site for Norfolk-based fine chocolate supplier, Cooks of Swanton. The structure of the existing e-commerce site, which uses Actinic Catalog software, was retained and the design...

CCG.XM increases turnover by 10% and links with bates group. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Cordiant-owned new media agency CCG.XM managed to weather the storm in the market last year, increasing its turnover by 10%, according to UK MD Mike Crossman. He also confirmed that as a result of Cordiant's decision to amalgamate the CCG.XM...

Abbey National site redesign. (Agencies).(Bank set to redesign Web site)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... New media agency The Bank has been appointed to redesign Abbey National's corporate Web site abbeynational.com, not its retail banking site abbeynational.co.uk as reported in NMA 20 December 2001.

Oasis Communications. (Agency Wins).(appointed by Securicor to redesign the security and distribution company's Web site)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Oasis Communications, the integrated marketing and communications agency, has been appointed by Securicor to redesign the security and distribution company's Web site. Oasis has also won the contract to provide content management and...

Quay New Media. (Agency Wins).(appointed by Liverpool Victoria to redesign its Web site)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Quay New Media, the online design and marketing agency, has been appointed by Liverpool Victoria, the mutual society, to redesign its Web site. The agency will redesign the navigation of the site and build in applications suggested by...

Sun promotes launch of Manx e-casino both on and offline. (Marketing).
January 10, 2002... Sun Online, the Internet division of global leisure group Sun International, has taken the wraps off an extensive global marketing campaign for its online casino. CasinoAtlantis, launched last week, is the first online casino to open in...

NetDoctor finds health in viral campaigns. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Health portal NetDoctor will step up its viral marketing activity this year after successfully launching an email-based campaign around its online smoking community. The campaign, which launched just before Christmas, is intended to drive...

12snap minidisc promo achieves 18% response. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Mobile marketing company 12snap has reported an 18% response rate to its pre-Christmas SMS campaign promoting the Sony MiniDisc microsite. 12snap targeted 80,000 mobile users from its database of 8.5m numbers and saw 7,500 unique users...

Call for marketing professionals to know more about technology. (Marketing).(ATG survey)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... E-business is being harmed because neither technology professionals nor marketers are prepared to take full responsibility for it. A survey of 500 marketers by e-business software platform company ATG, whose clients include Alcatel and...

Freeserve launches second round of TV ADS. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Freeserve has launched the second phase of its TV campaign to drive take-up of its flat-rate service. The ad, launched New Year's Day, follows on from Freeserve's 'nudist' ad and this time depicts hippies having transport problems. The...

E-Mail vision hires new staff. (Marketing).
January 10, 2002... Email marketing application company E-mail Vision says it has taken on six new staff in London in response to growing demand from new and existing clients. E-mail Vision employs 60 people working for 50 clients in the UK, France and Germany. It...

MGM'S online campaign premiere proves a hit. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... A competition on Freeserve to promote MGM's film news site mgmuk.com produced more than 6,500 entries. The November promotion, which was MGM's first online advertising campaign in the UK, included an auction of James Bond related items on...

Deal group buys cheeky monkey. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Pay-for-performance advertising network The Deal Group has bought consumer competition site Cheeky Monkey for an undisclosed cash sum. Cheekymonkey.com visitors are offered the chance to win prizes, including holidays and cars, in exchange for...

Toysrus.com falls foul of US State ruling on use of cookies. (International).
January 10, 2002... The result of an enquiry into Toysrus.com's online privacy policy by a US State authority has sparked further industry concern that legislators are falling to understand the use of cookies. Last week Mark Herr, director of human affairs for...

Pricerunner prepares for swedish iTV launch. (International).
January 10, 2002... Shopping comparison site Pricerunner.com is gearing up for its launch on interactive TV in Sweden, ahead of a planned roll-out of the service across the rest of its European operations. The company, which already claims profitability in its...

Sports.com ties up real madrid deal. (International).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... European sports portal Sports.com will make its first concerted effort to enter the huge South American football market after tying up a deal with Real Madrid Football Club. The deal will see Sports.com provide live match centres for all...

Korean tourist board in deal for world cup advertising. (International).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... The Korean Tourist Board has struck a deal with Yahoo! and global football body FIFA to advertise on the official World Cup site, fifaworldcup.com. As part of the deal, the Korean National Tourism Organisation will host the site's Destination...

Nettec discusses sale deal with savoya participations SAS. (International).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Nettec, the digital agency, has conditionally agreed to sell its French operations to Savoya Participations SAS. Savoya will pay [euro]5m ([pounds sterling]3.1m) for the deal if it's approved by Nettec shareholders at an extraordinary general...

Adlink signs up to dart technology from doubleclick. (International).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... AdLink shareholders have voted unanimously to approve the buy-out of DoubleClick's European media business. As part of the [euro]30.5m ([pounds sterling]19.m) deal, Germany-based Ad Link has signed up to use DoubleClick's DART ad serving...

Moneynetinternational opens expat property services. (International).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Offshore personal finance Web site Moneynetinternational.com is targeting expatriates with the launch of a new mortgage service helping them buy property back in the UK. It has also launched a multi-currency 'best buy' service with details of...

New.net makes tiscali deal. (International).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... Maverick US domain name firm New.net has extended its reach across Europe after signing a partnership deal with Tiscali. It gives Tiscali's 7.5m subscribers in 14 countries access to New.net's 'alternative' domain names, run on its own route...

IT spending in Europe this year predicted to surpass US. (Trends).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 10, 2002... IT spending will rise by 6-7% in Western Europe, predicts global IT market intelligence and advisory firm IDC. This growth compares to a predicted 4-6% in the US and 10-12% in Asia/Pacific. IDC also predicts that businesses will feel a crunch...

European consumers open to use of euro online. (Trends).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... More than one in three online consumers say they'll buy from Internet stores using euros and that the adoption of the euro will encourage them to buy from an EU online store. The statistics come from a survey by online payment solutions firm...

E-Tail sector grows 142% in 2001. (Trends).(Brief Article)
January 10, 2002... The online retail market is booming, having grown by 142% in 2001 to hit [pounds sterling]3.3bn in sales, according to figures from Verdict Research in a report on electronic shopping. But this figure still accounts for just 1.5% of all retail...

Shopping sites benefit most from rise in female surfers. (Trends).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 10, 2002... More British women than ever are shopping on the Web, according to figures from Nielsen//NetRatings. In November 43.1% of Britons on the Web were women, compared to 39.7% for that month last year. Nielsen extrapolates that more than 6m...

Broadband won't initially be big boost for retailers. (Trends).
January 10, 2002... Retailers won't benefit from an increase in online shoppers as the take-up of broadband access rises, according to new Technographics research from Forrester. However, broadband access will see a rise of nearly 20% in the average consumer...