ZipClip

The press material for ZipClip touts it as a way to "fun-up" the mobile experience, but they don’t need to brag on themselves so much. "Fun" is pretty much obvious in a service that lets users go right-click mad and send Web content directly to their mobile phones without much hassle. It’s the fun-uppity-ness that keeps you young, says Ozden—okay, so fun-uppity-ness is a word we made up.

The concept is simple enough to catch on pretty quickly after today’s worldwide launch: Right click on a photo, an article, a video, or anything else you might see while surfing the Web, and send it directly to your mobile via a command appearing in the right click drop down menu.

There, done, that’s it. Ozden bemoans having to send files via email, email attachment, SMS, MMS, Bluetooth, or cables as a real pain. ZipClip opens in your browser and you send to a folder you’ve downloaded to your phone. Voila.

"ZipClip leverages a few simple insights," said Ozden. "Consumers use their computer, not their phone to browse. They have limited time when on their phone and want to take a specific and immediate action – like talking, texting, or accessing desired content instantly."

• Users don’t have to send the whole article or page of text. Highlight what you want and instead tapping "copy" after right-clicking, tap "Send to my phone."
• Users don’t have to send the whole YouTube video. A feature called "Studio" allows users to clip it to the desired length and then send it.
• The audio of a YouTube video can become a ringtone.
• Any still frame can be a wallpaper, of course.

ZipClippers (Zippers?) can also send to enabled friends’ mobiles as well, which gives it an intuitive, fast, and simplified social networking function. "ZipClip makes people’s phones the next big social networking platform – especially for hundreds of millions of teenagers and young adults around the world whose phones are their preferred and sometimes primary source of entertainment and connection with others."

Don’t get too excited, though, Verizon and T-Mobile customers. Though Verizon talked big about opening up their network and their handsets, that may have been part of the old regulatory razzle-dazzle to get the FCC (and Google) to leave them alone. Otherwise carrier-and-device agnostic, ZipClip only works with AT&T, Sprint, or other non-Verizon-or-T-Mobile phones in the US, so long as they aren’t Treos or iPhones.

An iPhone version is expected later this year, once Apple loosens up. When asked how next generation phones like the iPhone, where natural web-browsing is a core functionality, would hurt ZipClip’s adoption, Ozden didn’t blink. "Irrelevant of the capabilities of the handset," he said, "browsing from a mobile device is not a desirable experience. Here the browsing happens from your computer when you have plenty of time."

Abroad, ZipClip should work on any Symbian or Java enabled phone.

Currently only available in English, a Spanish version is expected this fall. ZipClip is expected to make its Chinese debut during the Beijing Olympics in August. That should make things fun for the content cops, eh?

Speaking of content cops, does Berggi expect any hassle from RIAA/MPAA-types? This application does, after all, make it pretty easy and instant to transfer Web-content. First of all, says Ozden, ZipClip won’t copy any digitally-protected content. Secondly, one would be hard-pressed to differentiate it from email, text messaging or other devices used to share content.

ZipClip in its current version is a free download. Once it hits critical mass, Ozden says Berggi will offer larger storage at between $9 and $19 per year, along with premium content offers, and yes, advertising.