Blyk MVNO promises free calls and texts for mobile users
But what about mobile games?
This morning, a company called Blyk launched its new mobile service in the UK. It's an MVNO, which means like Virgin Mobile, it's a 'virtual operator' that uses another operator's infrastructure (in Blyk's case it's Orange).
The big idea behind Blyk is that it'll give its users free stuff thanks to its advertising deals. Anyone signing up will get 43 free voice-call minutes and 217 free texts a month, in return for agreeing to receive up to six advertising messages a day to their phones. The only restrictions are you have to be aged between 16 - 24, live in Britain and have a MMS-compatible mobile. You can find out more details at the firm's website.
Over 40 advertisers are on board, including the likes of Coca-Cola, McDonald's and L'Oreal. Plus one that's more familiar to Pocket Gamer readers: I-play. Blyk won't have an operator portal selling games initially, so where do mobile games fit in? We asked the publisher for more information.
"I-play will be sending Blyk customers SMS and MMS alerts on our latest games, directing them to our Payforit WAP sites, where they can purchase mobile games," I-play boss David Gosen told us. "The deal does not involve I-play giving our games away for free though."
So there you have it. Gosen says this kind of advertising is more appealing to I-play than other forms of ad-funded gaming, where games are given away as freebies.
"Our business relies heavily upon quality; we have strong partnerships with valuable licensors and we are reliant on operators to get our games to market – who have stringent guidelines about the quality of games," he says. "For these reasons, bar our partnership with Blyk, we are unlikely to get into ad-funded content in the near future."
So, in short, for now you won't be able to get free games on Blyk - just voice minutes and texts. But I-play will be one of the participating advertisers, trying to get you to buy new games like My Dog II and The Weakest Link 2008. We'll be keeping an eye on Blyk though, so click 'Track It' for an alert when more publishers sign up, or Blyk expands more into gaming.
