Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) has launched the beta version of a mobile operation in the online game Second Life which was foreshadowed a year ago. Vodafone Inside Out will only be advertised in the virtual world through Second Life newspapers The AvaStar and Metaverse Messenger and will let people call other Second Life avatars and connect the call to mobile phones in the physical world, as well as send and receive text messages. “Users will receive unique numbers for calls and texts and will be offered free handsets which can be collected from the Vodafone InsideOut vending machine. The service within Second Life will be free until 30 November 2007.”