National Geographic today announced the formation of National Geographic Mobile to extend the company’s core mission via mobile programming and games. Launching in October, National Geographic’s Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) site will encompass all content optimized for mobile, including categories such as news, green, images, music and videos. All content will tie closely to features from National Geographic’s award-winning magazines and Channel.

“With the launch of National Geographic Mobile, we are pleased to partner with leading carriers and global handset manufacturers, aggregators and developers to share our library of award-winning photos, video and new properties. This is a great opportunity for us to leverage our wonderful assets and feed the growing demand from consumers who are looking for compelling, rich media content on their cell phones and for us to extend our mission globally,” said Prince.

National Geographic will soon partner with PlayPhone to drive mobile content distribution online. The subscription-based service will allow consumers to download National Geographic wallpapers, ringtones, video and games through their personal computers to their phones.