The mobile phone: a hybrid multi-platform medium

In this paper we argue that the mobile phone must be considered both in terms of telephone functionality, and as an emergent entertainment media interface. As services based upon telecommunications - mobile telephony, the internet, video-on-demand, personal video recorders (PVRs), interactive television (iTV) - become progressively experienced as everyday media content, the environments of information and communication merge. We suggest that the mobile phone is enabling new ways of engaging with media content, and new ways of negotiating and communicating within both actual and virtual environments. In particular we consider the specificities of the mobile phone interface, and then turn to one of the most interesting and emerging areas of mobile phone-enabled entertainment - location-based and multiplayer games.