Mobile phones have been transformed into so many things — from the core conversation platform into mini computers, to books, wallets, and now, into credit cards.

Airtel Africa, Standard Chartered Bank and MasterCard have announced an arrangement that will enable mobile phone users to make online purchases from merchants around the world.

Called the world’s first virtual card, Airtel 1time Shopping Card operates as a wallet residing in a mobile phone. It generates a 16 digit number at the user’s request, and this number can be used to make a financial transaction. When the transaction is complete, a confirmation message is sent to the consumer’s handset.

“This launch of the world’s first virtual number on a mobile card marks a big milestone in mobile commerce,” Manoj Kohli, the international chief executive officer and joint managing director of Airtel, said.

Though launched in Africa, the possibility of similar services coming to other parts of the world can’t be ruled out, especially in India as it is Airtel’s home turf. Current regulations do not allow such services in India. Besides, mobile wallets can be used to store only up to Rs 5,000 in India, so this service would not make much sense anyway. However, the mobile payment system in India is gaining momentum with two of the largest operators in partnerships with two large banks for creating mobile banking services.

The second opportunity that this service presents is the ability to turn the mobile phone into a full-fledged credit card. Operators can provide a platform that works as a credit card such as Airtel 1time, and can make use of the billing platform they already possess.

Mobile networks can also be used to push advertisements and special offers to people, who can immediately make purchase decisions thanks to this virtual card.

Airtel recently launched Airtelmoney, a mobile wallet service, in Gurgaon, Haryana. The virtual card can be extended to Airtelmoney users as well, though officially there is no word on this.

Although the Amazon App for Windows Phone 7 was teased at the Consumer and Electronics Show (CES) last month, the official app itself has now been launched on the Windows Phone 7 market place. The app itself is free and users can browse through millions of products available through the app on their Windows mobile operating system based phones.

Amazon’s Kindle app for the same platform was also released only recently. It allows the users to sift seamlessly between the products, reviews and related items as well. The Amazon app comes with a built in search, one click ordering process (that’s what converts buyers) and package tracking as well.

All these features are available for Amazon app for iOS and Android based devices as well. The app has been created for Windows Phone 7 right from scratch which means the users can use the panoramic screens of the phones to take a good look at their favourite products and related details, including reviews written by previous users of the product, so they can make an informed decision. They need not leave the product screen at all to actually buy the product.

There are about 40 product categories and all the transactions are routed through secure servers of Amazon, so you can be sure of the security aspect.

Playup, a company which specialises in live and interactive social mobile gaming, has announced aggressive plans to cash in on the World Cup fever.

The new mobile games launched by the company are PowerUp, Next Wicket and 6Up. PowerUp allows people to predict how many runs will be scored in the power play; players of Next Wicket need to predict which batsman’s wicket will fall first, and 6Up players need to predict the runs that will be scored in a given over.

The games are available across platforms on SMS, IVR (interactive voice response), on the mobile web, and as a downloadable application.

These games are available as an application for Android mobiles and iPhones, and the company is working on launching it for Java platforms as well.

The games have social networking features which enable users to share their scores, and also to compete with others.

The company also announced Steve Waugh, Rohit Sharma and Jiah Khan as its new brand ambassadors.

Apart from being the company’s brand ambassador, Steve Waugh also has a stake in the firm, and is closely associated with the development of these games, according to Rajat Kulshrestha, the chief executive officer of PlayUp India.

Kulshrestha added, “We are also looking at tying-up with operators to launch special SMS packs and subscription options for gamers. We are in advance stage of talks with Airtel and Vodafone, who will launch special promotional data and SMS packs during the World Cup.”

PlayUp also launched a redemption engine which enables users to redeem the points earned while playing the game. Prizes include autographed merchandise, official cricket gear, digital rewards such as wall papers, and the chance to have dinner with the company’s brand ambassadors. Winners of 6UP stand a chance to win cash rewards as well.

OnMobile, a value-added services (VAS) company, has announced Karaophone, a service that allows users to play karaoke (sing along with music videos that have song lyrics and background music,) on their social networks via mobiles or landline phones.

With Karaophone, users can sing to a song of their choice. They can then share the music they create and challenge their friends through their desired social network. Karaophone also provides the facility to measure one’s performance, which can then be published and shared with friends and even ranked against fellow players.

The service has speech recognition for nearly 30 different languages, and the company claims that Karaophone can recognise language even in noisy environments.

The service is expected to become a fun and interactive tool for media houses to promote musical television programs, film releases or comedies; and for record labels to promote new artists and albums.

“By making karaoke available anywhere, at anytime, and by giving people the ability to share music on their social networks, Karaophone is pioneering the pending convergence of entertainment with mobile and social environments,” said Arvind Rao, chief executive officer, chairman and co founder of OnMobile.