The Nokia-backed consortium has been hit with massive member departures and a complete lack of funding to keep its momentum strong enough to continue its fight.  As a result, the board managing the Foundation has asked its new executive director to close operations.  The Foundation itself wouldn’t confirm or deny the report, but stated its board is reviewing strategy.  ”The future business strategy for the Symbian Foundation is still under review by the board,” the group said.  ”As no decisions have been made, we will not be offering further comment.”

Even though there’s nothing but bad news coming from Symbian, it retains its crown as the leading smartphone OS worldwide, controlling 41.2 percent of the global market according to data published Gartner recently.  It was just a year ago that Symbian-based devices represented 51 percent of the market, though its share continues to drop dramatically — especially as Android continues its srive to the top.

The final nail in the coffin was when both Sony Ericsson and Samsung said they’d no longer manufacture Symbian-based devices.  Along with Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung represented Symbian’s largest manufacturing partners and it’s believed that all three device makers each contributed around $7.8 million to Symbian’s funding — leaving Nokia the only one still extending financial support.

While its fate is still relatively unknown, the Symbian Foundation is likely reached its peak.  In the end, a second-coming of Symbian is probably the best thing that could happen — one that re-badges the aging OS and trims the fat.  Without support from consumers and especially developers, Symbian will never re-earn its crown.  We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.

StarStar Codes are branded mobile phone numbers that begin with “**,” such as “**BRAND,” and act much like short codes in terms of functionality, but aren’t limited to five digits.  With StarStar Codes, marketers can then interact with the consumer via content delivered to their phone such as a coupon, web page, picture or video, text message or application.  Callers can also be connected directly with a call center or IVR system, and many of these responses can be delivered in combination.  For example, callers can be greeted with a custom voice message and then sent to a web page on their phone to view product information, contact sales or request more information.

The company has already been leasing StarStar Codes to early adopters, and has even signed with Verizon to integrate its technology for mobile marketing campaigns.  With the launch of its registry, StarStar codes are now ready for prime time.  ”As people are increasingly using mobile phones to find out about upcoming arts events, music shows or even to decide where to go next during a night out, being able to connect with consumers using a mobile phone is an increasingly important capability,” said Marci Weisler, Digital Business Director of Time Out North America. “Through our unique StarStar Code, **TONY, Zoove gives our users a really simple way to access and download our mobile application without searching and seeking, in a streamlined way. Quick access is important if the user needs information immediately to decide where to go. While other technologies have attempted to close this loop, Zoove’s StarStar Dialing is the first that allows us to secure easy to remember, branded Mobile Dial Codes.”

Through its national mobile dial code registry, brands can now secure the two- to twelve-digit number combination that best represents their brand.  The provisioning time is said to be 10 business days, which is far less than short codes, and many desirable codes should still be available, though they’re sure to go fast given it’s first come, first serve.  Whether you agree with the technology’s long-term viability, it’s probably a good idea to go ahead and secure your brand’s StarStar code.  Early adopters have already shown huge success in using the platform for marketing potential, so it should be interesting to see what happens now that the registry is alive and kicking.

“Officially launching the National Mobile Dial Code Registry marks the introduction of our full range of services to brands and marketers,” said Tim Jemison, CEO of Zoove. “The value of a ubiquitous marketing platform that not only solicits a direct response from a consumer, but is also easy to remember and branded, is unlimited. We’ve had a great response from our preliminary testers and are excited to take these capabilities to the larger marketing community to fulfill the need for a branded direct response mobile marketing solution for their integrated campaigns.”

Distributing original mobile content tailored to soccer fans is becoming the growing aspiration of many telecommunications companies, and it’s clearly the mobile marketing priority for AT&T at the moment.

According to the official announcement, AT&T will deliver extensive “behind-the-scenes content” ranging from pre-game player interviews to post-game memorable highlights.

This newer and more comprehensive agreement builds upon AT&T’s existing sponsorship of the Mexican National Team and InterLiga.

“We’re pleased to associate our brand with this world-class game that’s arguably the most popular sport around the globe,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer at AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We look forward to working closely with Major League Soccer and the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams to better connect soccer fans around the world to the excitement of the game through our leading edge technology and platforms – AT&T mobility, broadband, voice and video services.”

For more info on the sponsorship deal and how to get access to all the features it brings with it, please check out http://fanzone.att.net

But not Coors. In fact, they are literally on the boat.

Molson Coors – through their subsidiary Different World Drinks – is now working with Adeye to produce a mobile marketing campaign to its “specialty beers,” which include: Kasteel Cru, Grolsch Weizen, Dos Equis and Blue Moon.

According to the official announcement, Adeye has already used a range of innovative mobile marketing and live promotional techniques to help Different World Drinks showcase its beers at a “boat launch in Bristol Docks for its top 30 regional customers” yesterday.

Fittingly, invitations for the big party were sent out via SMS.

And from the looks of it, the mobile bells and whistles proved a bigger hit than the beer, as bluetooth technology was also in full bloom on the docks as various beer brands were promoted right on guests’ mobile phones.

Based on the successful response to its new efforts, Coors is poised to take its aims to newer, higher levels.

Gavin Hogg, sales manager at Molson Coors said: “Mobile is definitely the way forward for our industry and also allows us to build valuable marketing data and help our clients target customers directly, wherever they are.”

If you’re a U2 fanatic, today is an exciting day. Research In Motion is reportedly teaming with superstar recording group U2 for the release of a new mobile album.

For now, all reports are light on details. A blurb on BlackBerry.com, however, gives a quick synopsis of what appears to be a “U2 App” with music, photos, tour info and a few other morsels of insider information. As soon as more details are made available, you will be among the first to know if you sign up for an email notification on the status of the project.

Earlier this year, U2′s band manager Paul McGuiness foreshadowed “new and innovative ways to enhance the mobile music experience on the BlackBerry platform for U2 fans.”

The comments heightened speculation that a mobile album was in the works and we can now confirm the accuracy of those earlier suspicions.

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.

ASCAP, a performance rights organization abbreviated for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, isn’t happy with AT&T.

The organization claims that the ringtones supported by AT&T violates performance and copyright law when they are played in public.

As a result, ASCAP has filed suit against AT&T.

Although mobile carriers and content providers pay songwriters and music copyright owners a license fee to carry the downloadable ringtones, ASCAP contends it isn’t enough and that additional royalties are due.

Now.

The legal eagles are weighing in on both sides at this hour. And while it isn’t clear exactly what will happen, it’s unlikely that consumers will be deprived of their beloved ring tones as a result of the suit.

After all, if we want to listen to “Ice Ice Baby” when we’re in the middle of grocery shopping and our mom calls, that’s our prerogative entirely.

Not that I would know anything about that.

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.

After ending their nearly two-decade long affiliation with the Sony music, Pearl Jam’s forthcoming album, Backspacer, was initially believed to be planned only for release in stores and carry no mobile affiliation with any wireless carriers or digital platforms.

Not so fast.

Although nothing is confirmed and we’re dealing almost exclusively with rumors, there is reason to believe that Verizon Wireless will soon announce a deal to distribute music from the new album. After all, only a few months ago Verizon’s V Cast Music introduced a series of exclusive full-track downloads for the digitally remastered edition of Pearl Jam’s 1991 debut album.

With both the relationship and opportunity present, rumbings persist that Pearl Jam and Verzon wireless will soon announce yet another joint venture.

Stay tuned.

Not long ago, Google submitted a six-page letter to the FCC outlining processes and tests to avoid interference on the frequencies in question, which was a major concern to the FCC. Google also promised to reserve some frequencies to be used not for wireless Internet and provide free tech support for people using their WiFi. It looks as though they’re laying the groundwork to dovetail nicely with the launch of upcoming Android handsets. That is if the FCC and the privacy groups don’t interfere.

If Google can control the network, as well as the handset software, and combine it with their core search engine knowledge, it will post serious privacy concerns regarding the vast amount of personal data and pure information Google would control. Since Google’s number one goal is to generate a larger footprint to incorporate it’s advertising models into, it obviously makes sense that it would want to place itself at all levels of the process, but controlling and managing that much information could cause problems.

On the other hand, the benefits are enormous in terms of both advertising revenue for Google, and the fact that everyone would have access to a completely free wifi network that’s available anywhere, anytime. It would take a ton of testing and configuring to make sure it’s secure and stable enough for widespread adoption, but exciting to think about nonetheless. We’ll see what happens…