Mobile Roundup: Bubbli, StackMob, Movie Studio Deals and More

Bubbli wants a few good engineers: The startup, co-founded by Yelp Monocle creator Ben Newhouse, put out a call for early hires. While their product isn't out to the public yet, we've seen early prototypes and they're impressive. (Think about augmented reality taking panoramic photos to the next level.) Newhouse mentioned on Quora that the company is in the process closing a round and planning to launch at TED. We hear Kleiner Perkins may be a participant. Zong & Boku Partner with Verizon: Mobile payments companies Zong and Boku have announced a direct carrier billing service with Verizon through BillToMobile, says TechCrunch. Now, the companies can now offer services at a much lower transaction rate than SMS payments. PlayStation Suite May Bring its Games to Android -- According to Touch Arcade, Sony is working on a new mobile phone project by the name of PlayStation Suite. Coming to the Android device, PlayStation Suite will "open up the PlayStation library to a range of Android owners with 'PlayStation Certified' devices." As it stands, Sony has confirmed that it will begin by porting PlayStation 1 titles first. [image via Touch Arcade] Lima Sky & Universal Make Cross-Over Deal: Lima Sky has made a cross-over deal with Universal and Illumination Entertainment this week regarding the popular Doodle Jump app and upcoming animated picture, Hop, says Pocket Gamer. Come February, the $0.99 application will receive an update that will allow users to unlock a secret Easter level and play as the movie's main character E.B. Facebook Eyeing HTML-5 for its Tablet Experience: After speaking on-stage at InsideSocialApps, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor reiterated that the company is working on a tablet version. That said, he did not state what device it would be for or whether it would be native. Taylor and others we've talked to inside the company say that Facebook is very focused on HTML-5. That's probably not only because it makes it easier for engineers to add updates. Encouraging third-party developers to bypass the app stores and build mobile web experiences will make it easier for Facebook to extend its social plumbing into more services. Foursquare Claims it Grew by 3400 Percent in 2010: Despite the launch of Facebook Places earlier this fall, Foursquare said it saw 381,576,305 check-ins last year. A full compilation of top check-in locations, numbers, and States, can be found here -- although none of the statistics seem useful in estimating the company's growth as a business. AppMobi grabs $6 million more from angel investors: In an unusually large round to raise all from angel investors, appMobi took a second $6 million round. The company is in the crowded space of helping mobile developers to create experiences for multiple platforms like iOS and Android. It also offers other tools like analytics and push notifications. StackMob aims to be the Heroku of mobile: TechCrunch posts a nice overview of StackMob's business, which is to make it easy for developers to scale and support the back-end of their applications. They also offer analytics and support analytics and social features. Angry Birds maker Rovio partners with Twentieth Century Fox: In what seems to be a great marketing fit, the Finnish studio is releasing a special version of its smash-hit game ahead of Fox's animated film "Rio," which is about two birds. In the game, the original Angry Birds are kidnapped and taken to the magical city of Rio. They'll need to escape and rescue two macaws named Blu and Jewel, who star in Fox's animated film. Click-to-call emerges over the past year as the action of choice for mobile marketers: Independent mobile advertising network Millennial Media released some new statistics about how ad campaigns are changing. Compared to the same report from a year ago, marketers seem to most prefer that consumers place calls after seeing an ad. Around the same time a year ago, the action of choice was either signing up for a subscription, making a purchase or downloading an app. Nokia CEO Elop hints that the company might try a new OS on for size: Trounced by the success of iOS and Android, Nokia needs a new hit and it may have to turn to competitors' software to do it. Chief executive Stephen Elop said "We must build, catalyze or join a competitive ecosystem," in this week's earning call.

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Mobile Roundup: Bubbli, StackMob, Movie Studio Deals and More

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack