MogoTXT Inc. has launched a new service that lets NBA fans in the U.S. and China get free text messages written by NBA players either in English or translated into Mandarin.

Fujian Peak Group LTD, an NBA partner and China's largest basketball footwear company, has agreed to support Shane Battier's mobile channel in the U.S. and in China in a variety of ways, including the insertion of MogoTXT promotions into Peak's television commercials that feature Mr. Battier and which are aired twice during every telecast of Houston Rockets games in China.

"China Peak is already a major athletic shoe player in China and a number of other countries Andy Won, CEO of MogoTXT, San Mateo, CA. "By virtue of its relationship with the NBA and its endorsement of a number of prominent NBA players including Shane Battier and Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, China Peak is positioned to become a global player in athletic shoes and apparel.

"One of MogoTXT's tasks is to build awareness of China Peak's brand and its products in the U.S. market and elsewhere," he said. "The strategy behind MogoTXT's Chinese platform is to take advantage of the ever increasing globalization of sports and entertainment generally and to enter large, commercially viable and fast-growing markets in ways that play to MogoTXT's strengths."

MogoTXT features a number of China Peak television commercials. The relevant demographic is all people who wear basketball shoes both in China and in the United States, according to MogoTXT.

MogoTXT is launching this new SMS microblogging service with Yao Ming and Shane Battier of the Houston Rockets, who are two of the most popular and well-known NBA players in China and whose public text messages to fans will be the very first translated into Mandarin by MogoTXT.

Yao Ming, the first NBA player from China, will be a guest star on Mr. Battier's mobile channel, posting text messages for Rockets fans.

"The Chinese are absolutely crazy about NBA basketball and the relevant Chinese market is probably larger than the entire population of the United States," Mr. Won said. "The NBA even has a reality TV show in China and has announced plans to start a NBA league in China.

"MogoTXT intends to be a player in sports-oriented mobile in China," he said.

MogoTXT and Mr. Battier will help Peak advertise and market its athletic shoes and apparel in China and also help build awareness of the Peak brand in the United States as Peak prepares to enter the U.S. market.

MogoTXT has also added Mandarin versions of Mr. Battier's personal pages at http://www.mogotxt.com and modified its Web site to enable Chinese users to sign up for MogoTXT's free service.

Mr. Battier is a major endorser of Peak's athletic shoes, together with Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, Ron Artest of the Houston Rockets and Sasha Vujacic of the Los Angeles Lakers.

MogoTXT also launched its first rich-media mobile site dedicated to Shane Battier of the Houston Rockets. MogoTXT now spans the Web, SMS and WAP.

"Shane Battier's excellent endorsement and sponsorship relationship with China Peak provided the opportunity for MogoTXT to develop a marketing relationship with China Peak," Mr. Won said. "The timing of our China launch could not have been better, with Shane Battier's teammate Yao Ming giving us a nice hand, and with the Houston Rockets right in the midst of a promising NBA playoff run."

This is the first of many rich-media mobile sites that MogoTXT will launch and operate to promote its athletes and enable future content downloads and other mobile commerce involving these athletes.

Mr. Battier's fans will be able to access his mobile site by clicking on links to the WAP site inserted into Mr. Battier's text messages to his fans.

Consistent with MogoTXT's launch of its Mandarin-translated text messaging service, Mr. Battier's rich-media mobile site will display content in both English and Mandarin.

The site will also feature the products and branding of Fujian Peak Group LTD.

MogoTXT's expansion into China is its first step to capitalize on the increasing globalization of sports -- 27 percent of NBA players and 28 percent of MLB players were born outside the U.S.

MogoTXT will enable sports fans in other countries to get mobile alerts from their favorite players in the U.S., including those from their own countries.

In addition to Mr. Battier of the Houston Rockets, the following NBA players are also posting public mobile alerts for fans on MogoTXT: LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trailblazers; Jordan Farmar, Los Angeles Lakers; Eric Gordon, Los Angeles Clippers; and Spencer Hawes, Sacramento Kings.

The text messages are personally written by the players and purportedly contain wit, humor, insights and nuggets of personal information about whom they personally admire, what they like to do off the court and their charitable works.

Now, during the first round of the NBA playoffs, the players' text messages provide fans with a sense of what it is like to be in the playoffs and insights about the various matchups.

MogoTXT will soon expand its translation service and mobile capabilities to these other star athletes.

U.S. fans can join any of MogoTXT's public texting groups for free by signing up at http://www.mogotxt.com or by texting keyword MOGO along with their first and last names to short code 43526.

Chinese fans can also sign up at http://www.mogotxt.com or by texting keyword j shane for messages in Mandarin or keyword j battier for messages in English to short code 1066 9588
1919.

MogoTXT has been invited to place point-of-purchase displays with MogoTXT calls to action in China Peak's 5,000 retail locations throughout China.

MogoTXT will soon launch texting groups for other NBA stars, Major League Baseball players, Soccer stars, NFL players and other celebrities such as pop singers.

"We think China is going to be a huge opportunity for MogoTXT and we are very focused on providing a fantastic service for our new Chinese users," Mr. Won said. "We worked hard to make our new Chinese service work flawlessly before we launched it.

"Not that we are looking past China by any means, but there are other large mobile markets that MogoTXT will be entering in similar fashion in the near future by playing to MogoTXT's inherent strengths in its expanding content relationships," he said.

MogoTXT's goal is to grow in ways that are consistent with sound business cases and providing meaningful and desirable services to both its users and business partners.

"It's sometimes difficult to maintain this discipline when I see all of the crazy adoption numbers and press presently surrounding Twitter, but fortunately I have a very stingy investor that keeps our team in line and focused on building a sustainable business," Mr. Won said. "I am just as curious as everyone else about how Twitter will monetize or if it really can.

"We have seen these crazy numbers before in mobile with IM, which does not appear to be easy to monetize despite the early promise indicated by fast growth figures," he said.

"Also, I wonder what happens to Twitter if Verizon and the other carriers revisit the idea of imposing 3-cent fees to deliver each SMS to their subscribers?"