By Amy Thomson and Dina Bass

March 5 (Bloomberg) — Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, will introduce two phones from Microsoft Corp. in about May or June that are targeted at teenagers, two people with knowledge of the companies’ plans said.

The models will have easy access to social-networking sites and include keyboards for text messaging, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. The phones will be made by Sharp Corp. and carry the Microsoft and Verizon Wireless brands, the other person said.

Until now, Microsoft has focused on providing its mobile Windows software to phone makers, rather than offering a model under its own brand. The move would parallel Google Inc.’s decision to sell the Nexus One phone, which uses that company’s Android operating system. Microsoft is seeking to recapture a larger share of the phone market after Android and Apple Inc.’s iPhone lured away customers from Windows.

By moving directly into wireless phones, Microsoft and Google could risk hurting their relationships with other manufacturers and service providers. Microsoft will continue to work closely with handset companies that make Windows phones and the mobile carriers that sell them, the person said.

Microsoft executive Robbie Bach, who oversees the mobile- phone business, said in January that it would be “very, very difficult” for Google to sell its own phone while keeping manufacturers and carriers for other Android handsets happy.

Different Tack

With its phone, Microsoft will take a different tack than Google, said the person familiar with the matter. While the Nexus One is only available from Google, Microsoft’s phone will be sold by Verizon, the person said. The phone stemmed from a Microsoft project code-named “Pink.”

Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Basking Ridge, New Jersey- based Verizon Wireless, declined to comment, as did Jay Cudal, a spokesman for Microsoft. Chris Loncto, a spokesman for Osaka, Japan-based Sharp, also declined to comment.

Verizon is increasing its lineup of smartphones in a bid to get more revenue from data plans, which customers must buy to access the Internet or download applications. Smartphone shipments will increase 46 percent worldwide this year, research firm Gartner Inc. said. That compares with estimates for total mobile-phone market growth of as much as 13 percent.

Cliq, Sidekick

The phone is intended to address a similar audience as Motorola Inc.’s Cliq or T-Mobile USA Inc.’s Sidekick, one of the people said. In 2008, Microsoft acquired Danger Inc., which makes the software for the Sidekick. The Cliq includes software called Motoblur, which serves up Twitter messages, pictures and contacts to the phone’s home screen.

Microsoft will probably spend more money marketing its new mobile Windows software than the Pink phone, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Kirkland, Washington-based Directions on Microsoft. That will smooth over relationships with handset makers and carriers that are Microsoft partners, he said. Microsoft said last month that the software, called Windows Phone 7 Series, will be available in handsets by the holidays.

“They will say, ‘Windows phones is where our investment is going. You should be betting on that,’” Rosoff said. “They did keep a team working on the successor to the Sidekick and that’s what this is. This is a legacy of Microsoft being a big decentralized company doing a lot of things and seeing what wins. It’s not quite the same situation as with Google.”

Touch Screens

Rosoff said the Pink phones won’t run the new Windows software. Windows Phone 7 will offer touch-screen features, letting handsets work more like the iPhone. The software, unveiled at a conference last month, also has a new design and connects with Microsoft’s Xbox Live online games and Zune music service.

Microsoft’s Windows dropped to a 7.9 percent share of the worldwide smartphone software market in the fourth quarter, from 12.5 percent a year earlier, while the iPhone and Android posted gains, according to ABI Research.

The iPhone took 16.6 percent of the market in the fourth quarter, up from 10.8 percent the previous year, Oyster Bay, New York-based ABI said. Android climbed to 8.5 percent from 1.7 percent.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Pink phones would be made by Sharp and go on sale as early as the spring. Technology Web site Gizmodo posted yesterday what it said were photos of one model.

Microsoft rose 17 cents to $28.63 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Verizon Communications Inc., co-owner of Verizon Wireless, gained 14 cents to $29.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.

–Editors: Lisa Wolfson, Stephen West.

-0- Mar/05/2010 05:01 GMT

To contact the reporters on this story: Amy Thomson in New York at athomson6@bloomberg.net; Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net

MySpace Music has started testing a new online advertising model in the US that means users have to listen to an ad before they can play songs.

While the ads are 30-seconds long, users will only have to listen to one and are then free to stream an entire album or even a playlist of 100 songs without any further interruption.


This comes after an initial testing of the ad software at the end of last year.

Last August, MySpace itself disabled the auto-play function. It was said that it was running up $10m (£6.4m) a month in streaming fees and this was a means to reduce costs as the company restructured.

Last week, a report by Publicis’ VivaKi stated that the Ad Selector was the best ad model for online video. The system was created by US-based video streaming service Hulu and lets users choose what video ads to watch before streaming content.

No Doubt sues Activision over use in Band Hero

Matthew Hopson
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Rock group “No Doubt” have filed a law-suit over the band’s appearance in Band Hero, Activision’s latest spin-off of the Guitar Hero video game franchise. The group contend that the game has transformed them into “a virtual karaoke circus act,” singing the songs of other bands.

In the suit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Country Superior Court, No Doubt allege that Activision broke the contractually agreed use of the in-game likenesses of band members Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young.

Band manager, Jim Guerinot said, “The band are bitterly disappointed that their name and likeness was taken and used without their permission. They agreed to play three No Doubt songs as a band. . . . Activision then went and put them in 62 other songs and broke the band up [and] never even asked.”

According to the LA Times, No Doubt’s contract with Activision allowed the Santa Monica-based company to use the band’s avatars in no more than three of their own songs. The game allows players to place them, as a group or individuals, into more than 60 songs, “many of which include lyrics, contained in iconic songs, which are not appropriate for No Doubt and have not been and would not have been chosen by No Doubt for recordings or public performances.”

It specifically notes that the game allows Stefani’s image to sing the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women.” The complaint says, “While No Doubt are avid fans of the Rolling Stones and even have performed in concerts with the Rolling Stones, the Character Manipulation Feature results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes.”

The complaint also alleges that executives at Activision failed to disclose the character-manipulation feature, refusing to remove or disable it for the No Doubt avatars once the band learned of it. According to the suit, Activision told the band that it would be “too expensive.”

The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount of actual and punitive damages, a temporary restraining order against the game, as well preliminary and permanent injunctions against distribution of the game, including a recall of existing copies.

A spokesman for Activision told the LA Times that they had not seen the complaint and had no comment.

In September, the widow and former bandmates of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain complained about the use of his likeness in Guitar Hero 5. In that case, Activision said they had received written permission from his widow to use him as a fully playable character, however she Twittered that she

“never signed [off] on the avatar.”

Britney Spears has reportedly been forced to re-record her song, “If You Seek Amy” due to the threat of radio stations worrying about “that mom in the minivan with her eight-year-old”. Good grief, will this ever end?

She is editing the track, which includes the lyrics, “All of the boys and all the girls are beggin’ to If You Seek Amy”, to “If You See Amy”. Why ya gotta cater to these fools just to get your music heard?!?!?

WTF, right?

I like the song just the way it is and don’t believe in censorship. The uncensored version is going to do well in the dance clubs, though.

R&B singer Alicia Keys picked up five nominations for the American Music Awards, while rock bands Coldplay and the Eagles scored four each, organizers said on Tuesday.

All three will compete for artist of the year, alongside rapper Lil Wayne and R&B star Chris Brown, who have three nominations each.

The 36th annual American Music Awards will be held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on November 23, with comedian Jimmy Kimmel returning as host. ABC will broadcast in the United States. Scheduled performers include teen idols the Jonas Brothers, pop singer Pink and reunited boy band New Kids on the Block.

For the second year, winners will be determined by online voting. They used to be decided by a poll of 20,000 music buyers, but producers decided to make the event more inclusive in the wake of slumping ratings. The move seemed to work, with last year’s show attracting 11.8 million viewers, up from 10.9 million the year before.

Keys was recognized for her album, “As I Am,” which opened at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart last November. It was cited for favorite album in the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories, and she was nominated for favorite artist in both those categories.

Coldplay and the Eagles will also go head-to-head for both favorite artist and favorite album in the pop/rock category. Additionally, Coldplay was cited for favorite alternative artist, and the Eagles for favorite adult contemporary artist.

Coldplay ruled the charts for two weeks during the summer with their fifth album, “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends,” and the Eagles went to the top last November with their first album in 27 years, “Long Road Out of Eden.”