Mobile entertainment to skyrocket

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	Mobile entertainment to skyrocket	By Jørgen Sundgot, Monday 20 October 2003

If the ARC Group is to be believed, over 2,5 billion of us will enjoy entertainment on mobile devices by 2008.

Mobile entertainment services will generate over $27 billion USD by 2008 and will have over 2.5 billion users, according to a new report from mobile industry analysts with the ARC Group. In the early stages of development, the ARC Group expects mobile music to become the main market driver, with considerable impetus added by mobile gaming services and applications.

Games content fully utilises the advances in handset technology and form factor developments, such as screen resolution and colour, to advertise the potential of the mobile device as an entertainment access mechanism. From an operator point of view, the ARC Group said it is important for these to re-educate users from voice models of use to data models of use to succeed in future data-driven markets. Currently, gaming makes best use of the potential of data services and educates the end user into the bargain - and more importantly, said the company, it does this without recourse to confusing techno babble likely to alienate the end-user.

Paul Merry, a research analyst with ARC, commented, "Musical content adds to the attractiveness of the mobile device as an entertainment portal enhanced by developments including polyphonic ringtones and music download and streaming technologies. Mobile video will further enhance this experience although truly compelling video content relies on next generation networks unlikely to be prevalent until 2008".

Key concerns identified by the report authors include the issues of pricing for premium content, billing, revenue share and the management of the complex relationships that will develop between existing and new players in the value chain.

Further issues relate to the potential of adult and gambling wireless services and the requirement to balance this potential with the need to police and regulate services across geographical, societal and legal boundaries across numerous diverse markets. Dan Winterbottom, a member of the reports research team affirms, "mobile operators are keen to try and replicate the success of adult content on the Internet, but unless they tread extremely carefully, they will fall foul of regulators".