Bebo extends its mobile reach as sale talks buzz

Even as Bebo is rumoured to be in sale talks, it has today signed a deal to to allow its 40 million plus members to produce and share content on their mobile phones, reports TechCrunch UK. Bebo’s new client application for handsets is provided by Intercasting, which has the Anthem product for social sites. Yesterday Bebo said it had signed a distribution deal with T-mobile in the UK ,where it also has an existing partnership with operator Orange. In Ireland, Bebo is currently partnered with O2.

Client applications for handsets make for greater integration with the phone camera and the contacts in the SIM card, which is fast turning into the new battleground for mobile social networks. Yesterday Yahoo! said it’s oneConnect software automatically merges your social network contacts with your mobile phone address book. And Danish start-up ZYB (see Mobile Crunch) yesterday launched its Social Phonebook, which uses the SyncML to sync contacts in a Plaxo-like manner with other ZYB users.