Pocket Picks :: The coolest things for the coolest phones

I’m feeling quite pessimistic about England’s chances of retaining the Ashes this Winter, what with players dropping injured like flies. Not that flies have dodgy knees or ankles (at least as far as I know).

Still, that hasn’t stopped UK publisher Player One from preparing an Ashes ‘mobishow’, which cricket fans will be able to watch on their mobile phone as the test series progresses.

Although it’ll likely feature news and comment, it’ll also give punters the chance to contribute using their camera phones, in a feature directly inspired by 3’s See Me TV service.

“We will have a leading cricket player who’ll be responding to questions in a See Me TV way,” says Pete Russell, CEO of Player One. “You’ll send in questions and he’ll respond directly. He won’t answer every question, but we’re hoping for five questions a day.”

Player One wouldn’t say who the player is, but given the company has released games based on Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was one of them (that they’d probably be doing it from a hospital bed is presumably a bonus. Or not.)

Anyway, the fact that Player One has signed up the rights to several stars from other sports means this technology won’t be restricted to cricket.

“Someone like Ronnie O’Sullivan lends himself to people sending in their best trick shot, whereas Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor might be good for sending in their best finish in a darts match. So we’ll be challenging people to do that sort of thing,” says Russell.