Demand for Mobile Phone Ring Tones Booming, says study
With teens worldwide dropping a few francs or pennies so
their mobile phones will beep out ‘Oops, I Did it Again,’ the
downloading of ring tones has become a billion-dollar market,
according to a report by the research company Strand Consult.
According to the report based on mobile phone use in Norway, the
demand for new and personalized ring tones is booming. The Danish
telecommunications research company found that mobile phone users
spent on average $5 per year on new ring tones and estimates the
market to be worth nearly $1.45-billion a year.
Where the music industry lost royalties with every free Napster
download, they could now recoup their losses every time a ring tone
based on a popular song is downloaded. With 2 billion new ring tones
expected to be sold, artists like Oasis and Janet Jackson, can
expect to make a fortune, the report says.
Offered only via premium priced SMS-messages packages, operators
are also expected to do well. These messages are priced higher than
the basic SMS message, in the range of 10 pence and 2 pounds,
depending on the type of information.
The report cites the financial success of the Norwegian model for
SMS services and says that the same level of success in terms of
premium SMS services could be possible globally. For example, UK
operators could generate 283 million pounds ($402.3-million) a year.
In its report How to Make Money on SMS, Strand Consult examines
premium SMS service worldwide and future prospects for SMS.
For more information: http://www.strandconsult.dk
Mobileinfo Comments and Advisory: Ring tone boom
confirms the view that teenagers and young adults might provide a
salvation to the wireless data providers by spending their piggy
bank savings on ring tones, music tones, games, dating and many
future applications that we do not know about. Will it give adequate
return to investors' dollars?. We would have to wait till these guys
start earning big bucks.
