I’ve spent the last couple of days with Nokia here in Stuttgart and have had some really interesting conversations.  What is clear from these meetings, and from the official announcements at Nokia World, is that Nokia is wholeheartedly committed to its services strategy.  They’re learning their way, but Nokia is a company that prides itself on renewal and they’re keen students of the lessons of their marketplace experiences.  It is easy to see that Nokia’s Ovi strategy has much more focus and clear vision than 2 years ago and that focus will continue to sharpen.

Music is the spearhead of Nokia’s Ovi strategy, and Comes With Music is the key element of their music play.  Regular readers will know that I’m a fan of CWM, and I consider it to be one of the best tools that the music industry has to fight piracy with.  Unlike Spotify, CWM enables users to take their music with them on their portable device and to keep it forever.  Those are strong assets for pulling kids off file sharing networks.  But it’s no secret that CWM hasn’t set the world alight yet, even if it has had better uptake in emerging markets than developed markets.  Some have used this as evidence of why the CWM model is flawed.  I don’t agree.  CWM’s slow start has been due to a combination of:

[Posted by Laura Ramos]

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Sound intriguing? If so, have I got a deal for you!  (Oh, c'mon, you suspected a pitch was coming, now didn't you?)

[Posted by Laura Ramos]

Wow!  I am humbled and honored to find myself in such amazing company! Thank you Dianna, it's great to get noticed.

So, Disney yesterday announced that it has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment. This gives Disney access to such famous brands as The Hulk, Spiderman, X-Men and Howard the Duck.

The comic books, graphic novels, TV cartoons, character merchandising and movies obviously fit in well with Disney's media portfolio, but there are some questions around videogaming. Why?

Marvel characters have appeared in numerous videogames from many different developers and publishers since the dawn of home consoles - ranging from the superb (Marvel vs. Capcom) through to so-so movie tie ins (Iron Man). The first question for some of these developers and publishers is where do they stand now? Disney has its own game studio, and while to date has generally focused on classic family fare (Hannah Montana games), it has also published slightly more adult titles like 'Pirates of the Caribbean:At World's End'. Inevitably over time much of the game development efforts around Marvel properties are likely to revert to Disney but this will take time to plan and ramp up for - and that is without considering the existing licensing agreements that Activision, and Blue Tongue have.