IAmEmo set to reflect user mood

In a push to popularise MMS services in Australia, a local company has released IAmEmo -- a cartoon lizard which helps display the sender's mood.

moodmessaging Pty Ltd, in partnership with Telstra, has invented Emo the chameleon as an extension of emoticons, :-), to help users personalise their MMS messages.

The short Emo animations display anger, happiness, sadness, romance and several other emotions, and are designed to be accompanied by a text greeting.

"This not only creates massive differentiation for the handset itself, but also encourages daily MMS usage and the ongoing downloading of new IamEmo content," said Kevin Brough, CEO of moodmessaging.

Telstra will initially provide IAmEmo preloaded on Sony Ericsson handsets, but Nokia and Motorola will follow.

moodmessaging's partnership with Telstra will also enable it to create content for other Telstra sponsorship deals including Australian Idol.

"This is very exciting for moodmessaging," Mr Brough said. "With Telstra, we now have a major telecommunications partner to help bring our small Australian company to the global stage.

"We believe this partnership will bring credibility to the IamEmo concept and help grow MMS awareness and usage."