It seems like a match made in mobile heaven.

Monitise has announced a “global strategic alliance agreement” with Visa International Service Association, a subsidiary of Visa Inc.

The reported five-year agreement combines “Visa’s unmatched reach, payments expertise and trusted brand with the Monitise Mobile Money platform and toolkit.”

Basically, Monitise will be an enormously helpful vehicle for Visa’s already teeming offering of mobile services (including payments, transaction alerts and special offers) by providing support and even greater reach to the millions of Visa customers with mobile phones.

Although not many details have yet emerged, the news of the partnership is considered significant and an incredibly beneficial arrangement for Visa, which in recent months, has found increased competition in the mobile marketing realm from both Mastercard and American Express.

According to the announcement by Monitise, the five year contract value amounts to $13 million dollars.

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Barnes & Noble has unveiled a new B&N Bookstore application for the Apple iPhone.

Providing access to millions of books now at the touch of your finger, Barnes & Noble worked with software partners Evryx Technologies and Spotlight Mobile to design, customize, and launch the new app, which is a red-hot download so far this week.

The app lets users take a photo of a book cover and, seconds later, the user gets all the information his or her heart could possibly desire about the title, author, publisher, etc.

More importantly from a business standpoint, however, consumers can use the app to purchase or reserve a copy of their desired title directly from the application.

The decision to plunge into the mobile realm isn’t new for the book giant. B&N recently bought digital book retailer Fictionwise for close to sixteen million dollars.

Given that Barnes & Noble operates nearly eight hundred bookstores in all 50 states, there is huge potential for this seemingly long-overdue app.

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Nothing says international travel like National Geographic.

Without question, the recent announcement from the venerable brand is likely a welcome development for cosmopolitan country-hoppers.

National Geographic is rolling out what has been dubbed “the National Geographic Duet Travel Phone,” which is designed specifically for “the needs of the international traveler.”

According to the announcement, the new handset supports two SIM cards and offers additional features useful for travelers: Bluetooth, a camera, FM radio, television and 1GB storage card.

As expected, the Duet comes packed with National Geographic content like ringtones, wallpapers and travel-related videos from the National Geographic Channel.

In case you were wondering, the Duet also includes National Geographic’s pay-as-you-go National Geographic Travel SIM card, allowing affordable calling in 185 countries, free incoming calls in more than 80 countries and 30 minutes of outgoing call credit (for most countries). Users have the option of inserting another SIM card in the phone and having a secondary number and service.

There’s no question that the Duet is cool and convenient. But will a National Geographic product catch on with most young travelers who don’t equate National Geographic with much of anything considered “cool”?

Only time will tell.

For now, the National Geographic Travel Phone is available online through CellularAbroad.com, Amazon.com, Expansys-usa.com and other select retailers.

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On Friday, FLO TV will debut on the small screen.

But it’s a small screen that’s bigger than the smaller screen they’re famous for.

This Friday, Qualcomm’s mobile broadcast subsidiary FLO TV will expand its service nationally.

It’s a move that’s been in the making for quite some time, one that comes hand in hand with
DTV transition, which provides the the broadband spectrum vital for the FLO mobile TV network.

As it stands, FLO TV will reach 39 new domestic markets with a potential audience of 200 million everywhere from Boston to San Francisco.

And that’s just the beginning.

By the end of this year, FLO TV is expected to see the light of day in at least one hundred markets.

As you may recall, FLO TV had no choice but to postpone its national debut after federal lawmakers delayed the switch to DTV from Feb. 17 to June 12.

The big moment is finally upon us.

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The new Opera Mobile 9.7 beta has a lot of people talking and taking further attention away from competitor Safari, which lost its edge in the worldwide lead in mobile web browsing last month.

Now, Opera is aiming to “accelerate the mobile browsing experience” for Windows Mobile-based phones.

What it all boils down to is speed, fitting with the theme of Opera’s recently launched technology for faster surfing called Opera Turbo. Basically, the Opera Mobile 9.7 beta features a mobile version of Opera Turbo. Read the rest

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It’s difficult to find many points of weakness for where the iPhone lags behind the mobile technologies of other smart phones and pimped out handsets.

But with Adobe Systems making great strides by introducing trial versions of its Flash software for Symbian, Palm and Android smartphones, the iPhone remains the pink elephant in the room. One that lacks some flash… literally.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs appears to be growing restless over questions about the iPhone’s technology gap. Although Jobs has offered the excuse that flash on the iPhone will require an optimal media player that, at present, would slow the performance of the iPhone, Adobe is countering that argument with one of its own - a position maintaining that Apple’s problem isn’t with performance, it’s with commitment.

As of today, Apple has only explored the possibility of adding flash. They haven’t actively pursued a course of action with Adobe. And Apple isn’t saying much else about this situation.

I’m certainly not about to contend that there is bad blood brewing between Apple and Adobe, but there is certainly a lack of cohesion in getting the job done for loyal iPhone users who want what we all need more of in our lives - some flash.

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Pressure has been mounting to legalize online gambling in the US.

But for now, gaming advocates have had to rely on other business models to generate revenue and attention.

Good Luck Gamblers is the latest.

And they are taking a gamble on mobile marketing with a new iPhone application “designed to bring consumers good luck.”

How does it work?

Lucky Gambling Days 2009 offers “365 days of Daily Luck Forecasts based on Western and Chinese astrological data.”

Obviously, this app is just for fun and primarily appeals to risk-takers aiming to bring a little more fun to the gaming experience.

It could be a significant development if other online gambling companies see a new interest in mobile apps pertinent to digital casino gaming.

After all, there is legalized gambling in better than 150 countries. And with a unique global appeal, there is a huge potential customer base for these types of enterprises.

Based on positive feedback thus far, Good Luck Gamblers has another app line up for development and launch by the end of this year.

I’d wish them good luck, but I don’t think they need it.

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