Jamba!
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Jamba! is a mobile phone content provider, based in Berlin, Germany. In China and the company's English-speaking markets, currently Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States, the company trades under the name Jamster!. It also uses the name RingtoneKing.
The company was founded in Berlin's Kreuzberg district in 2000. In 2004 it was purchased by VeriSign for €223 million. Jamba!'s main line of business is the creation and marketing of ringtones for mobile phones. It is perhaps best known for the Sweety the Chick and Crazy Frog characters. The company also sells insurance for mobile phones and home electronics and runs online gaming and online dating services. In 2005 it started doing business in the United States and China.
Controversy
Jamba! has drawn criticism for allegedly misleading customers in its service advertisements. In general, Jamba! services are sold as a subscription, despite advertising that seems to imply that customers are buying a one-off phone ringtone. The firm has drawn criticism for making it difficult to unsubscribe; for example, as of December, 2005, Jamba!'s German website FAQ does not mention the SMS code needed to cancel all subscriptions.
Jamba! advertises on AOL Instant Messenger on the top ad. When scrolling over the ad, it plays ringtones that many users find annoying.
Jamba! advertises aggressively on youth-oriented channels such as MTV and German VIVA. In 2004, it spent €90 million on television advertising in Germany alone. In Jamba! countries in Europe, it is not uncommon to see a multitude of the same Jamba! commercials in the same commercial break, sometimes even up to five or six times. An online petition in Germany protesting the firm's advertising practices drew some 200,000 signatures. In the United Kingdom, the Mail on Sunday decried what it described as a "ringtone rip-off," citing the example of a young girl who ran up a bill of £70 in a short time, just by ordering ringtones and wallpapers [link].
Jamba! characters
- Rhino and Rat
- Prime8
- Coolabear
- Crazy Frog
- Pussycat
- Tipsy Tiger
- Schnappi
- Sweety the Chick
- Nessie the Dragon
- Pinky the Pig
- Party Bee (features in one ringtone; "Wanna Have Some Fun")
- Mr. Chaos (His appearance is of a big nosed, long-tailed red devil.)
- Groove (Appears as a blue thing in a wheel (no legs) with brown hair and goggles. His mobile downloads were random on each jamster site all over the place.(Ex. Jamster UK has only videos while Jamster Italy has the real tone.) Only appears in the Amadeus ringtone.)
- Bazooku (Swead)
- Mad Dawgz
- Monsters (Mah-na Mah-na)
- Chubb Chubb
- ''Jimbo, Jombo, Jembo (3 monkeys)
- ''DJ Mozart (New Jamster star)
External links
- [Jamba German site (in German)]
- [Jamster UK site]
- [Jamster Irish site]
- [Jamster U.S. site]
- [Jamster Australian site]
- [Jamster Italy site]
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