MySpace hooks up with Vodafone

TWO GIANTS in their respective industries - Vodafone and Fox Interactive, are going to migrate the MySpace social network onto mobile phones. The deal is exclusive and will kick off first in good old Blighty.

The intention is to build the client software - MySpace Mobile - into a selected number of Vodafone's future handsets. But in the meantime, it should be possible for existing Vodafone customers to download the software via Vodafone live!

No-one at Vodafone was available to say where the software will be loaded and when it might first become available.

The chief advantage of having MySpace on your mobile phone will be the ability to post photos directly from the handset. It'll also be possible to post blogs plus send and receive MySpace messages while on the move.

The news will be a blow for a number of companies who were attempting to build mobile orientated social networks before the big names moved in. It's now too late.

Significantly John Smelzer from Fox Interactive Media, commented, "Our goal is to empower our audience to connect and interact with our sites whenever and wherever they choose, and we're off to a great start with Vodafone."

That's interesting. Vodafone's partner in the USA is Verizon. Does this mean that Verizon will get the cdmaOne version of the deal? Or will Sprint? Could Cingular get the GSM version?

We'll have to wait and see. µ