DirtyHippo wallows in muddy US mobile waters

A new internet site for downloading mobile phone software, DirtyHippo.com, could be the latest example of how US operators are loosening their famously Draconian control over what subscribers can download.

London-based DirtyHippo is owned and operated by Buongiorno Vitaminic, a European wireless data heavyweight. Its downloads, using the DirtyHippo brand name, are now available to Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile subscribers in the US.

For years, US operators provided nearly all the messaging, ringtones, games, wallpapers and other phone applications, choosing to distribute only a lucky few from outside companies. While the so-called "walled garden" approach ensured the operator most of the profit, the few choices carriers actually offered failed to generate much consumer interest.

But beginning last year, operators recognised that the reward for opening their networks to outside software dealers - more downloads, more money - outweighed the risks of hurting sales of their own content or distributing software prone to viruses or other maladies.

But the gates aren't wide open. Verizon Wireless and Sprint limit outsiders to selling only lower-grade and less-lucrative horoscopes, news updates and other text-only applications, according to an industry source.

The changing attitudes is just what companies in Asia and Europe, like DirtyHippo, needed to see before breaking the US market.

Burton Katz, president of US operations at Buongiorno said opportunities are being missed.

"We think the US market for data will be the biggest in the world," he said. "The appetite for wireless data [in the US] is no different than anywhere else in the world."

Ben Charny writes for News.com