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Category: Mobile content

Federal Antimonopoly Service initiates proceedings relating to SMS spam

By Leonid Zubarev, CMS Russia / Apr 30, 2012

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation for the City of Moscow has initiated proceedings against the furniture company Shatura for distributing advertisements via SMS without users’ consent (SMS spam).

During the check, the Antimonopoly Service established that Shatura had violated the article of the Federal Law on Advertising which forbids the distribution of advertisements via telecoms networks, including phone-based ones, without the prior consent of the users.
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Milner takes part in Path’s $30 million investment round

By East-West Digital News / Apr 18, 2012 / 1 Comment

Yuri Milner, co-founder of the prominent Russian Internet fund DST, is among the investors in Path, the much-hyped ‘mobile-centric social network’ launched in 2010. The investment round, which amounts to at least $30 million, was led by venture firm Redpoint Ventures, CNet reported on Monday, with entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Mark Pincus and Jerry Murdock, as well as investment funds Kleiner Perkins, Allen & Co. and Greylock Partners.

Milner has invested in a number of US startups. Among his recent targets over the past year were iPad medical publisher DrChrono, video chat service Airtime, and Flotype, a startup that offers realtime messaging technologies for cloud and mobile applications.

Russian mobile app creates international controversy over sexism and privacy

By Elena Mikhaylova, East-West Digital News / Apr 06, 2012 / 1 Comment

An international scandal has grown this week around Girls Around Me, an iPhone application created by a subsidiary of i-Free, a major St. Petersburg, Russia based mobile app publisher.

Starting with a post on ‘Cult Of Mac,’ a blog following products from Apple, the controversy has been fueled by a flurry of comments from mainstream media in the US and around the world, raising a new wave of interest in online privacy issues.

i-Free halts funding to the start-up that created mobile app Girls Around Me

A press release from i-Free / Apr 05, 2012 / 1 Comment

St. Petersburg – i-Free reports that its venture foundation subdivision i-Free Ventures has stopped funding Places Around Me, the start-up that created the mobile application Girls Around Me.

i-Free decided to stop funding Places Around Me because of the negative reaction its mobile application Girls Around Me has recently provoked among potential users.

SMS spammers could face five years in prison

By East-West Digital News, Marchmont News / Mar 06, 2012 / 1 Comment

SMS spam should be considered a medium-gravity crime, which implies punishment of up to five years in prison, suggested participants at a meeting last week which brought together Russian regulation and surveillance agencies as well as leading mobile operators.

Telecom regulator Roskomnadzor also suggested changing the rules for providing telecommunication services and content.

Finam launches German mobile IM app in Russia

By East-West Digital News / Feb 15, 2012 / 1 Comment

Finam Capital, the venture arm of the largest Russian brokerage and investment holding, will invest $10 million to deploy a special version IM+ in Russia. IM+ is a popular instant messenger made by German mobile app publisher Shape.

Shape and Finam will create a joint venture in which the latter will own a minority, non blocking stake, said Dmitry Smirnov, CEO of the Finam Private Equity Fund, in an exchange with East-West Digital News.

Russian Twitter users tripled in one year

By East-West Digital News / Feb 06, 2012

A total of 4.5 million Twitter accounts had been created Russian users as of January 1, 2012 – a three-fold increase over the 1.5 million recorded a year earlier – according to a recent study by Semiocast, a Paris-based social media research company.

This number puts Russia currently in 20^th place on Twitter’s gobal map, the study shows, far behind the USA (with 107.7 million accounts), Brazil (33.3 million) and Japan, (29.9 million) – but also trailing such relatively small-market countries as Venezuela, Chile and the Netherlands.

Smartphone-compatible dosimeter-radiometer startup receives support from Skolkovo, claims value of $100 million

By East-West Digital News / Jan 14, 2012

Skolkovo, the state-supported innovation hub under completion near Moscow, announced yesterday it has offered a grant of 1.35 million rubles, approximately $45,000, to its resident Intersoft Eurasia, a startup developing a dosimeter-radiometer that can be built into a smartphone or used as a separate, detachable unit (see video).

Skolkovo woos German startup in Singapore

By Ekaterina Preobrazhenskaya, East-West Digital News / Dec 21, 2011

Taxipedia, a German startup that has developed a mobile app for calling taxis and getting discounted fares, was awarded a Skolkovo Foundation grant last week, reported Tass-Telecom last week. The ceremony was held at the Singapore campus of INSEAD, a top ranking international business school with its main campus in Fontainebleau, France.

Siberian game publisher Questli attracts Swiss and German money

By East-West Digital News / Dec 17, 2011

Questli, a startup from Novosibirsk, Siberia, has raised an undisclosed amount from Zurich-based venture capital firm Redalpine and individual investors from Switzerland and Germany, industry blogger Yakov Sadchikov reported yesterday.

Questli’s award-winning treasure hunting games combine crowd-sourced quests, location-based services and couponing. Founded by Danila Kozyatnikov in April 2011, the startup initially received CHF 200,000, or about $219,000, in funding from Redalpine.

Category: Mobile content

Federal Antimonopoly Service initiates proceedings relating to SMS spam

Milner takes part in Path’s $30 million investment round

Russian mobile app creates international controversy over sexism and privacy

i-Free halts funding to the start-up that created mobile app Girls Around Me

SMS spammers could face five years in prison

Finam launches German mobile IM app in Russia

Russian Twitter users tripled in one year

Smartphone-compatible dosimeter-radiometer startup receives support from Skolkovo, claims value of $100 million

Skolkovo woos German startup in Singapore

Siberian game publisher Questli attracts Swiss and German money

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