Most of us don’t think much about the font on our cell-phone screens, but we should. It makes a huge difference in readability. And like wallpaper and ringtones, different fonts allow users to customize their phones. The FlipFont software from Monotype Imaging offers 19 unique fonts in different sizes for a wide range of handsets, giving customers a host of choices to match a mood or look.

“We’ve seen from our initial launch in the U.K. that many consumers prefer to use a font that suits their personality or is simply more fun to use,” says John Sequin, executive vice president of Monotype Imaging. Users can override the phone’s factory-installed, default font to experience a FlipFont typeface within the phone’s user interface, menus, and various applications (Fig. 1).

A larger number of fonts should lead to greater consumer data usage. According to a Telltabs-sponsored survey published in February and conducted by the Nielsen Company, consumers in Europe and the U.S. intend to increase their use of mobile data services, with significant growth in the next 12 months.

The research, which focused on 10 mobile data services in Western Europe and the U.S., revealed that more than half of the approximately 200 million mobile data users in the surveyed countries expect to increase data use in the next two years. The research also reported that more than 25% of the millions of consumers who do not use mobile data services today intend to begin using them shortly.

Monotype Imaging is offering a free trial of its FlipFont mobile font download solution, now operational on 46 handset models. For the first time, users in both Europe and the Americas can license typefaces from Monotype Imaging’s mobile e-commerce site, www.flipfont.mobi, for use on supported phones. The free trial, which includes three fonts, is also available to Vodafone UK and 3 UK customers who can access the FlipFont solution through their respective carrier channels: the Vodafone Live! multimedia portal or the 3 UK personalization homepage.

The supported phones mostly include Nokia models, including the N71, N73, N75, N76, N77, N78, N79, N80, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N85, N86 8MP, N92, N95, N95-3, N95 8GB, N96, E50, E51, E55, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E66, E71, E75, E90, 5320 XpressMusic, 5630, 5700 XpressMusic, 5730, 6110 Navigator, 6120 Classic, 6121 Classic, 6210 Navigator, 6220 Classic, 6290, 6650, 6710, 6720, and V804NK handsets (Fig. 2). FlipFont can also run on the GT-i8510, GT-i7110, and SGH-L870 handsets from Samsung.

Each of the three trial fonts can be used freely for up to 48 hours. These fonts include the attention-grabbing Musclehead typeface, the classic Zapf Chancery script font, and the versatile Equinox design. The typefaces are available for license and download for $3 each, with selections that range from distinctive yet legible designs to casual fonts that suggest a handwritten flair.

Monotype Imaging has broadly expanded the availability of its FlipFont solution by connecting the company’s mobile e-commerce site to a new payment gateway set up through Bango, an international mobile Internet company that provides content and services directly to mobile phone users. Consumers access FlipFont through www.flipfont.mobi to download and purchase fonts using U.S. dollars, Euros, or British pounds. In most cases, transactions appear on the operator invoice, as Bango has relationships with most major network operators.

Also, Monotype offers an even wider range of fonts for other languages, including Asian phones. The company is seeking support from more carriers and developers who may want to offer a range of different fonts in future cell-phone models. Look for font offerings for other phones in the future.