NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) is joining the mobile money market with its own remittance service. Starting from July 21st, individual users (as opposed to corporate customers) of the carrier’s i-mode service will be able to remit up to 20,000 yen (about $208) per transfer by simply inputting the payee’s mobile phone number. The payee then receives a mail notification on its mobile phone and is given the option of depositing the money in a domestic bank account or having the amount credited to their monthly phone bill. The payee can receive remittances totaling up to 200,000 yen (about $2,080) per month.

Best of all, the service doesn’t require any registration or opening of a specific bank account!

Cost wise, the charges per payment (including consumption tax) will be 105 yen for the payer and 65 yen for the payee. The payee is not charged, however, if the remittance is deposited into a Mizuho Bank account or credited to their monthly phone bill.

GyPSii has announced that it has secured EU-wide “friend finding” patent, which describes the transmission of location-based information between devices and the subsequent publishing of that information for viewing on a map.

From the press release:

This significant Friend Finding patented technology enables GyPSii users to locate and share information with friends to view on a map, and further protects intellectual property enabling key features such as pushing user generated place content or requesting a friend’s location so they can meet-up, on mobile devices. The company uses the patented technology in the friend finding capability to allow users to share their location over a mobile device. Users can request or share their location and a favorite place location with one or many friends, from mobile device to mobile device, and view the location on a map on the device(s).

GyPSii’s announcement goes on suggesting this is only the first of 6 patent technologies they have developed. This capability can also be applied in other uses such as Fleet Management, Field Operations and Emergency Services.

Now, the question is how this will impact other mobile social networks. Will GyPSii start suing other services that use the same approach? “Waiting and seeing” all we can do at this stage. I only hope it won’t negatively impact the industry…

Wattpad keeps conquering new mobile platforms. After BlackBerry and iPhone, the popular “YouTube For Ebooks” is hitting the Android world, too.

A dedicated application is available in the Android Market, using which users can discover new ebooks, share their collection with the world, and download ebooks other people have shared.

According to Wattpad, each month over 10,000 stories are published by thousands of passionate writers, including many well-known writers such as John Gregory Betancourt, whose story Alien Still Life was first published online on Wattpad…

Some time ago we wrote about SHAPE Services’ trip-trackin’ app GPSed for the iPhone. Well, it has been updated recently, not just for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s handset, but for all other platforms supported — including BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), Java ME and Windows Mobile.

Among the features GPSed 1.4 packs are:

• Ability to attach a photo directly from the application.
• Improved user interface.
• Dialog for posting to social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Blogger.
• Improved code that makes the app run faster.
• iPhone version is optimized to sing along iPhone OS 3.0.
• Many other fixes and improvements.

And that’s it. To grab the latest version of GPSed, simply search for it in your smartphone platform’s  application store, or visit GPSed’s website…

The folks behind the popular mobile social networking service, GyPSii have been busy these days. As a matter of fact they had few news items to share with us:

• There’s now an English version of GyPSii JavaME mobile app, which works on feature phones;
• BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and iPhone apps have been updated;
• GyPSii now lives in Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Ovi Store, too

You see the point here, right? The idea is to reach as many users as humanly possible, by making GyPSii mobile app available for all platforms. As I pointed earlier, if I were at Samsung, LG or some other major handset maker, I would strongly consider acquiring the GyPSii…

Vringo and its partner, Innova Group, have announced a partnership with Armenia’s leading mobile operator VivaCell-MTS. Through the partnership, Vringo’s video ringtone service will be available to more than 2,000,000 mobile subscribers of VivaCell-MTS in Armenia through a co-branded VivaCell-MTS-Vringo online platform and will constitute the first deployment of such innovative and stimulative technology in CIS countries.

The VivaCell-MTS-Vringo service, rolling out on a subscription basis, will provide access to Vringo’s video ringtone application and its library of 4,000+ video ringtone clips. For a fee, subscribers may download this premium content.

“Through this arrangement with Vringo and Innova Group, VivaCell-MTS is now able to offer our subscribers more multimedia content and more stimulating ways to use that content than ever before,” said VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian. “We believe Vringo’s fun and captivating video ringtones will be an extra tool in our efforts to keep our subscribers updated with the latest technologies.”

“Vringo is thrilled that VivaCell-MTS is joining our growing family of carrier partners,” said Vringo CEO Jon Medved. “This exclusive agreement will enable VivaCell-MTS to use Vringo’s suite of customizable tools to engage its customers through the most important pivot on the mobile device: the ringtone.”

This is the fourth custom-built in-language carrier platform Vringo has created for an international mobile partner. Others include platforms in Vietnamese for Viettel, in French for Bouygues Telecom, and in Turkish for mobile provider Avea.

In addition to carrier partners, the company also maintains relationships with content providers (including Turner, Discovery Mobile and Agence France Presse) and handset manufacturers, such as Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE), which is including a direct online link to Vringo on its new Sony Ericsson Walkman phones.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has just launched three new SMS services geared specifically towards Africa: Search, Trade and Tips. There are already plenty of SMS Google services available in North America and elsewhere, but Africans’ needs require a little bit of tweaking. Tips, which can be accessed by texting 6001, is broken down into three subections: Clinc Finder pulls up a list of services and the phone number of nearby clinics; Health Tips focuses mainly on sexual health; and Farmer’s Friend helps with planting advice and dealing with pests. Trader is an interesting new option that basically works like Craigslist - you can search for, buy and sell goods entirely by SMS. Since they’re gearing these services primarily towards developing contries with limited internet access, this reminds me a lot of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Life Tools, and will hopefully do just as well. MTN Uganda is the only supporting carrier right now, but with any luck, it’ll spread across the continent. To get started with Google Africa’s SMS tools.

[via Official Google Blog]

Do any of you watch those backward bidding channels on TV? You know the ones I mean, where you have to bid in a low price in order to try and win? Well now those sorts of bidding games are coming to Mobile!

Flycell have announced “Bid Hunter”, which is a new strategy game played both online and via mobile phones where players are challenged to come up with the lowest unique guess to win big ticket prizes.

In Bid Hunter, players can guess up to 30 times daily online at http://www.flycell.com/bid-hunter or from their mobile phones. The “hunter” with the lowest unique guess is the winner. Hunters receive real time text alerts or emails that help them along, making the game interactive and highly addicting.

“Flycell’s customers are sure to get a thrill from winning high-end items like big screen TVs and home theater systems simply by making the lowest unique guess,” says Lindsey Weinger, VP Web Experience at Flycell. “While the person with the fattest wallet will always win in a traditional auction, Bid Hunter turns that idea on its head and adds interactive features like text alerts that make it even more fun and addicting.”

Although this type of game is sometimes referred to as a “reverse auction,” it’s not really an auction at all. The object of the game is to guess the lowest number to win the prize. A guess does not represent any actual dollar value, and the prize is absolutely free for the winner, including the delivery.

If you fancy finding out more, then you can visit http://www.flycell.com/bid-hunter.

One more release from the Mobile Money Summit event in Barcelona…

Leader in global roaming and interoperability solutions, California-based Roamware, announced a strategic partnership with Grameen Solutions to develop mobile money applications and services for the unbanked.

So, on one side we have Grameen Solutions which is part of Grameen group that also includes Grameen Bank, the world’s leading micro-finance institution; and on the other, Roamware which ecosystem spans over 375 network operators in 138 countries, reaching more than 1.8 billion mobile users. You see where this goes, right?

The two companies could reach the poor and allow them to use financial services through their mobile phones and that’s a noble cause. Hopefully, we’ll hear some tangible results from either Roamware or Grameen in the near future…

WeFi, the company behind the global WiFi network, has launched WeFiApps, what they say is the first WiFi powered launch pad for mobile applications. According to their over-hyped press release, WeFiApps aims to “revolutionize mobile Internet use by providing a home for data-intensive mobile applications.” Users can download and enjoy varied groups of mobile apps, and let WeFi automatically connect and maintain the best WiFi connection.

Speaking of apps, they include communication services (IM, mobile email and VoIP), entertainment software (games, sports, Mobile Video and TV), information sources (dictionaries, encyclopedias and maps), social networks, news and more. Companies that have agreed to participate in the project include fring, Joiku (owned by Google (NSDQ: GOOG)), Nimbuzz, Shape Services, NewACT, HOVR and others.

WeFiApps is currently accessible on any Wi-Fi enabled Symbian S60 mobile phone, and I guess, if we see users jumping on board, WeFi will support more platforms…