MobileActive resells press images

MobileActive has signed an agreement with Austral Press in a move which signals a growing maturity in the mobile content market.

The deal will see MobileActive, a mobile content supplier, gain access to Austral Press' archive of celebrity paparazzi and studio portraiture, news features and reportage.

Neil Wiles, managing director for MobileActive said mobile content consumers were expanding beyond traditional content such as ring tones, wallpaper and games.

“Our growing database of customers want to be able to access images through a handset whenever they want,” he said. “Mobile content providers need to be diverse and flexible, because ‘if content is king then the customer is the emperor'."

Jerson Yau, associate analyst wireless and mobility, IDC said such a partnership reflected the maturing taste of mobile consumers.

“With the advent of podcasting and blogging, global images from news stories are more of a driving force [in content downloads] than celebrities,” he said.

“This partnership allows MobileActive to takes Austral Press’ photographs and resell them in a user friendly way to its customers.”

He said users were likely to take up the new offering as it was typically difficult to access news-based images, except through established networks like press agency.

The Austral photo database will be available in the form of wallpaper and image downloads via MobileActive web and WAP sites from June 2006.