Conversion seems to be the rage at this week’s BREW 2007 Conference in San Diego. We reported yesterday that Innaworks had developed a BREW to J2ME converter, and today we’re getting word that Javaground, a solution provider for mobile content development, has also announced that the Javaground Solution, an automated development and porting solution with ports Java apps to C/C++. Past converted mobile gaming titles including Casino Royale and Spiderman 3.

Javaground is currently offering a free one-month trial license of its mobile development and porting solution. Contact the company at BrewConverter@javaground.com to obtain the free trial license. So get converting already!

Javaground

The classic wooden brick stacking game might seem an odd choice for a mobile game, but early next year we’ll get to see how it translates to the third screen. I-play announced at this week’s Licensing Show in New York that it has secured the rights to bring Jenga to the mobile platform worldwide sometime in the first half of 2008.

“Jenga’s universal appeal and accessibility makes this game a perfect fit for mobile gamers who represent a broad age demographic and even split across both genders,” said Leighton Webb, Senior Vice President for Content Strategy & Publishing. “We hope that gamers of all ages will be able to enjoy this game as a family, with their kids.”

Jenga is now sold in more than 50 countries, and has been crashing on coffee tables for nearly 25 years. Stacking things has always made for good gameplay on mobile phones, so maybe I-play is on to something.

I-play

This week SEVEN, a provider of push e-mail software, and UFIDA, one of the largest independent software providers in China, announced a new partnership that will provide UFIDA Umail to more than half a million enterprise customers in China. Under this deal SEVEN will become the market leader for push e-mail services in the Chinese market.

Umail allows UFIDA Mobile customers to have access to their mainstream e-mail accounts via their mobile phones, and with the push technology will provide the access to messages in less than a second.

“Mobile consumers are constantly on the go,” said Ross Bott, chief executive officer of SEVEN. “Enterprise subscribers are in and out of meetings or traveling and they’re never in one place for an entire day, and our solution can travel with them. Mobile email means that people can be mobile, giving them greater flexibility in their day and where and how they work.”

This service will even allow customers to access multiple e-mail accounts at once, and customers will be further be able to have access to their contact lists, as well as calendar and even archived folder, and do all of this from a mobile device.

Seven

It seems like everyone wants to be an individual, or at least and individual that goes along with the crowd. To this end OwnSkin is a new user-generated mobile theme community that lets people personalize their mobile handsets. In additional the usual stuff, there are plenty of wall papers, themes and other goodies that you can download and install.

From the look of it a lot of the content features “licensed” characters and themes, so no word on how often some of this stuff gets removed, and since it is user-generated we’re thinking this is best described as a “use at your risk,” but if you want more than just a wallpaper of your car or a few seconds of the latest Fall Out Boy song as your ringtone, check out OwnSkin and see if they have anything you’d like to make your own!

OwnSkin

We’re getting word that Yeigo, the VoIP and IM service for mobile handsets, is now supported on Windows Mobile 6.0. The software app has been available for Windows 5.0 since February, and now the mobile VoIP solution is up and ready to go for Windows Mobile 6.0.

The team offers some insight on the Yeigo Blog.

The major players in the electronic entertainment industry are bringing out the big guns when it comes to mobile games. With a mobile phone in nearly everyone’s pocket that’s a bigger market than the current generation of consoles combined!

Vivendi Games Mobile has announced their second half line up, and it is an impressive one. This includes titles that are original properties as well as games based on Sierra Entertainment franchises. In total Vivendi Games Mobile will be introducing 10 new titles for the second half of 2007.

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If you’re one of those people who has deadbeat friends that never seems to have cash, you can ask for that $5 back if they’re a Verizon Wireless subscriber. As our sister site at Crunchgear is reporting Verizon is adding mobile payment options, which means that customers can use their handsets to send money to each other using a service from Obopay Inc.

This service will be available in the coming weeks, and the Obopay service will eventually even let customers conduct transactions by waving their phone at a retail checkout or an automated bank cash machine. Prepay and billing options will be available, but we’re still going to have to see how quick retailers will adapt to the new service.

[Via Reuters]

Today Alltel and Mobile Complete announced the launch of the Alltel Virtual Developer Lab, a new remote testing service, which gives developers Mobile Complete’s remote handset and access technology. This allows real-time access to phones on the Alltel CDMA network, and now the entire development community can interact with these devices just as if the phones were physically in their hands.

“The launch of the new remote testing service, reinforces our commitment to support all facets of the product development process, said Wade McGill, senior vice president of wireless products for Alltel. “Access to the most advanced mobile phones and the ability to communicate and share information among developers is crucial to the development and delivery of quality mobile content.”

Benefits for developers including global service that is available 27/7, as well as removing the need to ship phone for firmware updates, and opportunities for greater collaboration. Mobile phones have already helped connect people and now this technology looks like it will help mobile developers!

Alltel Wireless
Mobile Complete

Could a Skype killer be on the horizon? Possibly, according to the developers at JAJAH. The company has announced its No Headset campaign, and Web site, with the slogan “You Liked Skype, You’ll Love JAJAH.” This campaign is being launched to increase public awareness for the JAJAH service, and users are being rewarded with official clothing if they “creatively dispose of their existing computer headset.” Examples can be viewed on a special Web site that has been launched that provides program details, and includes videos of such “creativity.”

“JAJAH is revolutionary because it lets you make free and low-cost global calls using your everyday mobile or landline phone,” said Roman Sharf, JAJAH co-founder. “Services like Skype require headsets, software downloads and sometimes other technical equipment, making them way too hard for the everyday consumer to use.”

As a side note: In fairness there are plenty of options for using Skype without a headset, including a new dual-use Philips VoIP phone that can be used as a traditional wireless phone, and as a Skype phone. More importantly as a Skype phone the Philips VOIP8411B/37 can even be used without a computer. It only requires a broadband connection and will work with dynamic and static IP address. I’ve been using it for the past week, and it is an excellent landline and Skype phone.

What JAJAH is doing is also very interesting. From the Web site, JAJAH lets callers enter their cell or landline phone number, along with the number they wish to call and JAJAH connects both parties. These calls are then free between JAJAH users for up to 30 minutes a day, and this includes calls to across town or across the planet.

No Headset
JAJAH
Philips

Push it, push it real good. That’s the word from SEVEN, a developer of push e-mail software. Today SEVEN announced the availability of push e-mail software for a variety of mobile phones and smartphones including the Nokia N95 to the Mail Movistar Empresas and Mail Movistar Profesional services, which are provided through the mobile unit of Telefónica in Spain. This will provide subscribers with an easy access in real time to their corporate and personal-mail accounts through their mobile phones.

“Telefónica’s diverse mobile phone and smartphone offerings allow its subscribers with the luxury of mobility,” said Ross Bott, CEO of SEVEN. “Combining these stylish mobile phones with SEVEN’s mobile email service available through Movistar allows customers to stay connected anywhere, anytime. As the largest push email software provider in the world, we thrive on furthering the connectivity of our subscribers and increasing their mobile email access.”

Seven