SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK–Sept. 11, 2007—MeezÔ, the leading consumer avatar service, and Vringo, the pioneer in video ringtone sharing, today announced an alliance to fully integrate Meez 3D avatars into Vringo’s video ringtone service.
Using Vringo, mobile phone users can now seamlessly load their 3D Meez avatars onto their mobile handsets for free. When a call is placed, the animated Meez appears on the recipient’s phone screen as a video ringtone, or Vringo, graphically identifying the caller. Additionally, every time a user updates his or her avatar on Meez.com, the Vringo will automatically be updated. Users will also be able to personalize their mobile handsets by selecting Meez avatars as wallpaper that appears on handset screens when idle.
“Vringo’s video ringtone technology helps fulfill the long-awaited promise of avatars in the mobile world,†said Sean Ryan, Meez CEO. “Meez avatars make great wallpaper, but what our users really want is the ability to share their animated avatars with friends. Now they’ll be able to put their Meez on display whenever they make a call.â€
With the Meez-Vringo alliance, users can now simply and easily deploy their Meez on a wide variety of mobile handsets, including devices made by Nokia, Motorola, SonyEricsson and Samsung. This means that the Meez avatars that users post as digital IDs on their favorite social media Web sites and instant messenger services can now be shared on yet another “screenâ€â€” the highly portable mobile phone screen.
“When we developed Vringo, we knew there was extensive graphic content on the Internet that wasn’t being utilized to its fullest extent,†said Vringo CEO Jon Medved. “By taking Meez avatars and blending them with Vringo, we’re able to deliver additional value and widen the audience.â€
More than 2.8 million people have already created their own unique Meez avatars, choosing from more than 4,500 digital assets on Meez.com, including virtual clothing, accessories, hairstyles, tattoos, physical attributes and 3D animations. It takes only minutes to create a Meez that expresses each user’s personal style and passions. Users can also gear up with premium items and branded clothing, such as virtual jerseys from Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.
Current phone models that can be used with Vringo are listed in the FAQs section of the Vringo Web site: www.vringo.com/corporate/faq.html.
About Meez
Meez provides sophisticated avatar services for the mainstream. At Meez.com, users can create and animate highly-customized 3D avatars that express their personal style and passions. Meez avatars can then be exported and used all over the Internet as a 3D ID. The company has secured strategic partnerships with leading consumer and social media sites who have integrated Meez’s avatar-building tools and services directly into their sites, including Glam.com, CBS Sportsline, PalTalk and Photobucket. Based in San Francisco and developed by Donnerwood Media, Meez is backed by Battery Ventures, Transcosmos Partners, Allen & Co., and other individual investors. For more information, please visit www.meez.com.
About Vringo
Vringo is creating the world’s first video ringtone sharing community. The company is making Personalization 2.0 a reality by enabling users to experience rich media ringtones on a wide variety of mobile devices and for the first time to share that media with others within a community. Vringo is backed by Warburg Pincus and by private investors. More information can be found at www.vringo.com.
Author details:
Here Andrew Perlman writes about the alliance between Vringo, the pioneer in video ringtone sharing, and Meez, the leading consumer avatar service, to fully integrate Meez 3D avatars into Vringo’s video ringtone service. For accessing more services in Phone Video Sharing, video phone, free cell phone video, video sharing community, mobile video sharing, visit www.vringo.com.
