Aiming to translate the success of podcasts into the cellular phone sector, software house ShoZu said Wednesday it is testing out a new service it is calling ZuCasts.

The system delivers a variety of media formats—including photos, video clips, and blog commentaries—directly to cell phones.

The London-based company is currently offering the service for free. Users don’t even have to fire up their phone browser to obtain the content; it is automatically downloaded as a background task.

That’s very similar to the way in which a RIM BlackBerry receives email messages from a mail server. The system is intelligent, however. If a download session is interrupted by an incoming call, it resumes at the point where it left off without needing to restart.

“Our ZuCasts provide access without lifting a finger,” said ShoZu CEO Mark Bole. “They just appear on your cell phone, like your daily mail, ready to make you laugh or cry or simply stay plugged in to things you care about."

Phone Bill Warning

The downside is that if ZuCast subscribers get too enthusiastic, they may exceed the “inclusive” data download limits on their cell phone contracts and need to pay extra on their phone bills.

For that reason ShoZu suggests that enthusiasts should consider moving to a flat rate data tariff, as T-Mobile, for example, offers with its Web ‘N’ Walk tariffs.

ShoZu was formerly known as Cognima, a London-based company that is a Red Herring 100 Europe company. The company has also won awards at the CTIA Wireless 2006 conference.

To showcase the technology, ShoZu has already signed a deal with Warner Bros. Bands such as Armor for Sleep will be providing a continuous multimedia blog of their activities until August 14, while they’re on the road with the Warped Tour.

Other content providers include Buzznet, which has a blog covering the radical Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert; Webshots, the photo-sharing site; and Rocketboom, a humorous daily video blog.

To get access to ZuCasts, cell phone owners first need to download ShoZu’s version 2.0 client software. The software will work on 48 models of Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Java-based phones.

Initially, however, ZuCasts will only operate with a smaller subset of phones made by Nokia, Samsung, and Matsushita’s Panasonic brand.

According to Mr. Bole, his company is close to completing negotiations with three of the top five mobile phone manufacturers to embed the ShoZu client right into the phone’s firmware. That way, users won’t need to go to the trouble of downloading the software from the Internet.

Contact the writer:Editorial@RedHerring.com