News Bytes: September 17

Verizon Wireless Quietly Launches Flash-Based Storefront

via mocoNews.net

Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) has quietly released Dashboard, a new storefront found on its phones using Adobe's (NSDQ: ADBE) Flash technology, mocoNews has learned. So far, Dashboard has launched on the LG Chocolate 3, and more phones are expected by the end of the year, making it one of the largest mobile implementations of Flash in the U.S., both Verizon Wireless and Adobe confirmed. Todd Murphy, Verizon Wireless's director of digital media programming, explained to us the platform stands alongside the carrier's Get It Now platform, and is designed to be an easy place for consumers to find both content from Verizon's deck, but also links that take you to the mobile Web, "It's a dynamic real-time store. It's one click up on the Chocolate 3. We have a system on the back end that allows you to merchandise and change things every couple of hours."

The launch of Dashboard comes just before Adobe's CEO Shantanu Narayen keynoted at CTIA, where he pleaded for more standards in the industry, so that content can be developed once and published across many mobile devices and also the Internet and TV. However, operators in the U.S. have been slow to adopt Flash, even though it's embedded in a lot of handsets. Lack of Flash is a constant complaint about the iPhone. Verizon has been one of the more aggressive companies on that front, providing a Flash Lite extension to its Brew platform, which features content from game companies, such as Smashing Ideas and Mobitween, but also videos from MTV's Atom Entertainment. Anup Murarka, Adobe's director for technical marketing, who also appeared at CTIA, told us: "In terms of Flash Lite, Japan has been the first and foremost, and then Europe and now it is gaining in the U.S." For instance, little do people know that Flash is used on some of the popular phones, including the LG (SEO: 066570) Shine, Venus and Voyager. "We can enable these experiences to be richer, or more engaging, and the end-user doesn't even know it...You'll see additional examples over the next six to nine months." Read more

Mobile Content Bits: Games Go Mainstream At Handango

via mocoNews.net

-- Games and entertainment are hottest categories at Handango: Handango released its Yardstick for the first half of the year and reported that games jumped from fourth place to first place in just six months, followed close behind by the entertainment category—a first since the mobile content storefront began releasing the report. Entertainment and games comprised 42 percent of all sales in the top ten categories while business applications stood at 15 percent and productivity apps came in fourth place at 9 percent. Strong sales from EA Mobile and Capcom Interactive helped drive the surge in game-related sales. Handango also added more than 370 developers to its roster of more than 23,000 in the first half of the year. (Release).

NBC.COM New Digital Line-up

Planning to expand upon past successes NBC.com announced a new digital line-up of programming built around the fall television season. Here's a sampling of what's to come:

• Heroes will feature more micro-sites delving into secrets revealed on air, more graphic novels, more cast commentaries and more webisodes beginning in December. A special heroes vs. villains social network launches in October
• Knight Rider fans will be able to investigate the back stories of some of their favorite characters, play an all-new KITT game and interact in Attack KITT and the KITT cave
• The Dunder Mifflin Infinity social network built around The Office will feature new branches, new tasks and new prizes. New features include Meredith's blog, Angela and Andy's wedding planning microsite, a Serenity by Jan microsite and a second installment of webisodes slated for November

Executive Moves

Marketing firm BrightLine iTV named Audrey Marco to the role of VP/Business Development in BrightLine's L.A. office. Audrey spent 11 years at Sony Pictures Entertainment where she helped found its Digital Division.