I’ve had the same wallpaper on my cell phone since the Kidrobot Munny Show of 2005 at Minna Gallery in San Francisco. It’s a Munny w/ glasses and mobile phone (I also have the G.I.D. zipper pull of the same character). I think I downloaded it while BART was above ground or shortly thereafter. While many wallpapers and seasons came and went (OK, we don’t really have seasons in California…), nothing compelled me to make a change. Until now… This fall, Hands-On Mobile, a “leading global publisher of mobile lifestyle, games and personalization products” turns its attention to the arts. Their new service, mixtART, gives consumers the ability to purchase exclusive cell phone art via SMS. The artists already signed up for mixtART include: Alex Pardee, Buff Monster, Jon Burgerman, Patrick Ma, Patricio Oliver, Ekundayo, Dave Correia, Brent McHugh, Astro and Noferin. Although the full service has yet to launch, the splash page features art from Pardee, Buff, Burgerman, Ma, McHugh, Correia, Oliver and Ekundayo for the cost of a $1.99 SMS. I attempted to procure Jon’s wallpaper by sending a text to 46966 and got back instructions to visit a website to finalize the purchase. Unfortunately, the URL got hung up and I was unable to update my cell. Not sure if this is an intermittent problem on my end or pre-launch wonkiness on theirs, but this is something to definitely be excited about. Now you can not only outfit the exterior of your iPhone by Jon and practically any phone by Alex, but you can pimp out the insides too. Stay tuned for updates and further functionality from mixtART here at ToyCyte.
Said Michael Temkin, CTO at Hands-On Mobile:
More and more independent artists are discovering the benefits of digital media to promote their art to the public, and mobile delivery is the perfect opportunity for them to share their work with a vast, diverse audience. The artists we are working with have exemplary portfolios and we are looking forward to offering additional creative wallpapers to mobile customers on a monthly basis.
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