The Corpse Princess has set her sights on smart phones.

The anime series of the same name is coming out on DVD September 14, and distributor FUNimation Entertainment is using the mobile advertising network iVdopia to get the word out. It’s all about engaging fans of anime, a genre of animation with roots in Japanese manga, or comics.

Something called the Viper Ad lets users swipe away an entire screen-takeover with a fingertip, unearthing the next image. With mobile social media, users will be able to share Corpse Princess videos with friends on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Fans will also be able to view multiple clips from the series on their phones.

The campaign for the DVD release of the show, titled Shikabane Hime in the original Japanese, is a natural progression for a business that has long understood–and even encouraged–fan sharing. For example, the Internet is rife with fan-translated chapters of popular manga long before they’re released in English–which copyright owners allow to remain out there, knowing that these translations increase consumers’ interest for a book’s official release. While other video content owners fear allowing copyrighted material to be viewed on mobiles, the anime/manga industry gets it.

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It’s not TV, it’s HBO.

That’s what the premium cable network is fond of saying.

Well, now it really isn’t TV. Thanks to HBO’s aggressive posturing in the mobile space, the cable network could ultimately attract more viewers on the iPad than on television screens.

The Time Warner-owned TV powerhouse is expanding “HBO Go” streaming video service for Apple’s iPad as well as other mobile device in the very near future.

Bloomberg reported this week that HBO is eager to capitalize on the dwindling video rental marketplace by making it easier than ever to access popular HBO original series and movies (both new and old) while on the go or even at home. This exclusive availability of HBO content could be a big win-win for the network and its viewers, say the folks at HBO.

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Great news for people who keep up with their favorite shows via online video: Vimeo today released its Universal Player that allows viewers to watch embedded videos on mobile devices.

It’s a move that, methinks, will help force content owners to start making their videos available to mobile consumers. Last week I opined the inability of mobile phones–even those with Android 2.2 and its Flash capabilities–to play videos on Hulu, due to copyright owners not wanting their material on the platform. But Vimeo has long been a great, er, alternative to official network video sites. (I waver on the term alternative since, rather, it’s one of the unofficial sites that got networks and production companies to realize they needed to put their materials online themselves.)

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Mobile video ad network Rhythm NewMedia indicates in a new report that 3G networks are responsible for carrying a whopping 72% of all video content watched on Android smartphones in the United States.

When it comes to video consumption over 3G, Android takes the cake hands down. iPhone users, in fact, only tap 3G for 56% of their mobile video consumption.

Overall, the report notes, 3G accounts for 53% of mobile video traffic. The remaining 47% is attributed to WiFi.

With regarded to concentrated use, however, Rhythm NewMedia indicates that mobile video viewing habits are evenly distributed throughout a 24-hour period. This represents a stark contrast to the viewing patterns of mobile TV fans, who tend to concentrate their use of mobile TV in the evening.

Interestingly enough, despite criticisms of the “short attention span” of many mobile phone users, of all the viewers who access full-length chunks of video and episodic content, an impressive 26.5 percent of viewers watch the content in its entirely from their mobile device.

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Over the weekend I was pleased as punch when my EVO informed me that the upgrade to the latest Android OS–Android 2.2, also known by the wannabe-hip nickname Froyo–was available for the handset. I’ve been eager for the upgrade, mostly because of reports that Android 2.2 would allow smartphones to play Flash videos, the format of videos on Hulu. One more thing the EVO will do that the iPhone can’t, I cackled to myself.

Wah-wuh. I’d momentarily forgotten that Hulu’s inability to be played on phones is due mostly to content owners’ decision to make them unavailable on the mobile platform. My EVO still has full Flash capability, an improvement from the so-called “Flash Lite” support of earlier Android incarnations (not to mention Apple’s non-support of the format). But it was still a bummer not to be able to rewatch the Glee finale in bed during a bout of insomnia. And so for me, an enthusiastic mobile video and mobile Internet consumer, the new Android is about as much an improvement as the Malibu Stacy doll on The Simpsons getting a new hat.

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Audiovox is going with the FLO.

On Monday, Audiovox Corporation announced that it will introduce the new Audiovox 7″ Portable DVD Player with FLO TV. Essentially, the product offering will give television, sports and movie enthusiasts another way to access live mobile television.

According to the official announcement from Audiovox, the portable DVD play in question lets customer enjoy both live and time-shifted programming when a DVD isn’t their preferred method of entertainment.

The package comes with a built-in rechargeable battery, stereo speakers and has a 7-inch diagonal 16 x 9 wide screen.

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ABI Research has released data indicating that revenue from mobile video services is set to top $2 billion by 2013, driven in large part by increased availability of 4G data services and video-centric smartphones and tablets.

ABI predicts video telephony, video messaging and video-on-demand will account for a majority of the revenue earned from mobile video, but that it could get interesting as MNOs compete for earnings as consumers’ appetite for mobile video consumption continues to grow.

In addition to the popularity and adoption of OTT services that provide intense competition for MNO-branded mobile video services, other limiting factors to the industry’s overall growth include an insufficient range and variety of video-capable mobile devices, as well as business models that are “immature and imperfectly matched to consumers’ preferences,” cited the report.

“Video services revenue will only amount to about $121 million this year,” says senior analyst Mark Beccue. “But the growth curve is very steep indeed, and will only continue to accelerate through the end of our forecast period in 2015.”

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