Mobile World Congress Second Life got its first mobile phone today in the form of an NEC Communicator that can make calls, and send texts, into meatspace - assuming the residents have any friends left who lack a virtual presence.

NEC claims the project "helps its customers to find new Web 2.0 revenue streams... in terms of ubiquitous communication, payment, media distribution and context distribution" though it's more likely the company is trying to justify the money it spent creating "NEC Island" and "Tokutoku Pocket Island" in Linden Lab's virtual universe last year.

The NEC Communicator can be found on Tokutoku Pocket Island for the next few days (as long as Mobile World Congress lasts), and does serve as a demonstration of NEC's Service Delivery Platform, but it will take more than a couple of virtual phone calls to justify any significant investment in Second Life's virtual real estate. ®

Related stories

• Big Brother tracking comes to Second Life (17 September 2008)
• Breakup with Sadville lion ends in kidnap plot, duct-taped dog (26 August 2008)
• NEC UK abandons direct sales (23 July 2008)
• Why Yahoo!'s Stalker 2.0 service is a turn-off (27 February 2008)
• Second Life comes to the third screen (26 February 2008)
• Sadville insecurity invites pickpockets (15 February 2008)
• US spooks see Sadville as potential terrorist paradise (7 February 2008)
• Sadville bans usury (9 January 2008)
• Real Mail The myth of the humble nerd tycoon (28 November 2007)
• Second Life mounts assault on reality (30 October 2007)
• BBC man: Sadville is great for bubblewrap kids (26 October 2007)
• Captain Cyborg invades Second Life (23 April 2007)