Liverpool, UK based mobile virtual gifting startup Little World Gifts has announced it’s partnership with global animal and wildlife charity the WWF (UK). And while signing a charity of this magnitude is certainly a score for any organization, it’s what Little World Gifts has in mind with the partnership that makes things particularly interesting.

Little World Gifts will soon be adding three WWF branded items to it’s inventory. A virtual replica of the WWF’s ‘iconic’ panda logo will take a seat as a virtual collectable box, as well as a ‘wooden tiger toy’ and an animated Adelie penguin. These virtual gifts are slated to run between $3.99 and $4.99, and may be purchased using Apple’s microtransaction mechanism. Little World Gifts reports that 36 percent of the revenue generated will go directly to the WWF.

Now if $3.99 – $4.99 sounds a bit steep, you’re not alone. To me, a virtual gift, even if a portion of the proceeds are going to charity, priced at $4-$5 is not exactly igniting that ‘impulse buy’ factor some microtransactions rely upon. Part of this may have to do with the now increased revenue split – Apple (as with all it’s apps) will take a 30 percent cut, and then Little World Gifts and the WWF will split the remaining revenue, with Little World Gifts taking 1 percent less (34 percent) and the WWF gaining 36 percent.

Coming soon to the company’s iPhone app, users will be prompted to receive, as well as purchase of course, virtual gifts. Ok, nothing particularly ground breaking here…until you add the iPhone’s GPS functionality to the mix. Users will be able to send and receive virtual gifts based on their location. Hmmm…virtual gifts based on location…ringing any bells yet? Well, if you’re a user of Foursquare or Gowalla this should sound remarkably similar.

This kind of virtual gifting very well may have tremendous potential. Instead of picking up a handful of postcards with images shot years ago, a visitor to Vienna, for example, might be able to pick up a virtual Riesenrad, or a Tour Eiffel in Paris. They could then keep this virtual souvenir, or send it as a gift (a “Wish You Were Here”, if you will) to a friend or family member back stateside.

Likewise, the potential remains for advertisers, i.e. visit xyz coffeshop, and have a virtual (branded) gift be pushed to your phone if you’re using Little World Gift’s application.

According to Little World Gifts, social networking (read:Facebook) integration is in the works, and will appear later this year. Particularly good news to Little World Gifts was Facebook’s recent announcement that they plan on making implementing microtransactions easier for developers.

Little World Gifts is a 6 person operating out of Liverpool, UK, and has received seed funding from Northwest Vision and Media’s Regional Attractive Fund, and are currently pursuing a Series A round of funding.