TowerOne.com

Yesterday I walked into a tree branch and hit my head - hard. So hard in fact I could see the birds flying around my head like on a TV cartoon. After I had recovered enough to stand up again I promptly walked straight back into the same branch. What a prat! Thankfully I don’t get too many days like that, although today I went through the same pain but with O2.

The UK mobile operator is offering existing iPhone customers the opportunity to upgrade, free of charge. Can’t say fairer than that can you. So having duly pre-registered a couple of weeks ago I received a text from them at 8.20am this morning - upgrade online now and get your new iPhone 3G by courier on the 11th. [Read more]

JLM Pacific Epoch are reporting that Beijing based UGC Video site Youku has raised a new investment of $30m from existing investor Brookside Capital. they also secured a $10m equipment loan from Western Technology investment.

Beijing-based user-generated video site Youku.com confirmed on Monday that it has received a new $30 million investment from existing investor Brookside Capital Partners and Maverick Capital. Youku CEO Victor Koo said the new capital, $40 million including a $10 million equipment loan lent by Western Technology Investment (WTI) in May, will be spent on platform technology, improving user experience and market expansion. The chief executive officer said the funding would be enough for more than one year of operation. Youku will pay back its equipment loan within three to five years, said the report. The video site is still aiming to exceed revenue of RMB 100 million in 2009.

Ouch. $30m for ‘more than’ one year operation. Data charges are heavy in the ugc video business and this illustrates what a fine knife edge the Web2.0 sites are balancing on. One slip and it’s goodnight all.

Investments from Techfund and Crédit Agricole Private Equity aids in expansion to the U.S. and Singapore

Miyowa, a global company providing compelling instant messaging and presence enriched Mobile Web 2.0 technologies, has announced completion of a second round of financing of $8 million bringing the company’s total financing to date to $12.7 million.  The funding round was participated in by Techfund, who funded Miyowa’s first round of financing in September 2006, and Crédit Agricole Private Equity, a new investor.  Combined with revenue derived from increased mobile operator contract wins, the additional financing will be used to accelerate commercialization of Miyowa’s existing products, bring to market a revolutionary enriched mobile instant messaging solution, and expand operations into the U.S. and Asia.

Founded in April 2003 by Pascal Lorne and François Colon, Miyowa develops [Read more]

The population of Denmark is 5.5million. The number of mobile subscriptions is 6.2million.

[and they have the choice of over 130 different payment packages!]

Over 900million people use a Nokia device every day.