Musiwave and Actimagine Announce Next Generation Pictones

Musiwave and Actimagine, the supplier of the Mobiclip mobile video codec, announced full video mobile ringtones have been added to the Pictones product line.

Pictones were first released by Musiwave in 2004 and combine songs with an animated 'slide show' of images, extracted from video clips. By integrating Actimagine's advanced video codec Mobiclip, Musiwave is now able to provide high-quality full video ringtones to its operator customers. This new generation of Pictones has already been successfully
launched with Vodafone Italy and additional operator roll outs may occur as early as this year.

Downloadable content such as ringtones, video clips, news, sports content and other entertainment is a lucrative revenue stream for carriers. Managed in the same way as existing ringtones, Pictones are either integrated into the users' mobile handset, or easily downloaded, and offer both mobile operators and record companies the benefit of new revenue streams. Though maturing, the revenue from ringtones alone is a $3B worldwide market.

"Ringtones have nearly reached the point of market saturation; operators and consumers alike are waiting to see 'what's next,'" comments Nicolas Pelletier, general manager, Musiwave. "Our second generation Pictones offering satisfies consumer demand for new personalized music content and is as simple as downloading a standard ringtone."

Musiwave provides mobile music entertainment services to over 35 mobile operators in 25 countries including Vodafone, T-Mobile, Telefonica, Orange, SFR and Amena.