mocoNews.net - Storyz Launches Cross-Platform 'Conversation' Social Site

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James Quintana Pearce

mocoNews.net
Wednesday, February 25, 2009; 5:00 PM

A Sydney, Australia-based company has launched the beta version of its mobile social network, Storyz. The service lets people post text, photos and video for stories and invite their friends to participate across the web, social networks and mobile. The service integrates with the camera, contact list and file system in iPhones and some other devices via WAP, and plans access for Java ME and Android platforms in coming weeks. The system appears to be a forum-style offering where people can send in images or video and attach text: The idea being to get a theme going, such as Chuck Norris - The Ultimate Collection. It's international, so people with different countries can participate together.

Storyz has a business model that includes revenue. The main driver will be advertising, which will include banner ads in relevant threads but also brand-sponsored challenges, which will see companies run competitions on the site getting users to send in images and text. Storyz also plans to make money on messaging?initially it's free, but the company plans to incorporate fees by buying bulk SMS from carriers and offer users discounted prices on the SMS, making a small profit. Many countries pay per SMS rather than have a plan.

The company is backed by Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and some Japanese investors.