NEW YORK CITY, NY — Today’s mobile-phone owners use a mix of mobile content obtained from the Web, from their personal collections, and from their wireless carriers, according to a recent consumer survey by ABI Research. That behavior indicates consumers are intent upon getting the content they want from whatever source will provide it — and that could be a problem for wireless carriers who so far have been rather picky about the material they allow on their decks, the research firm said.For example, mobile consumers are more likely to watch a video from YouTube than to search for something similar on their carriers’ portals. On the other hand, consumers are more than twice as likely to procure ringtones from their carriers than from any other source.
“Perhaps more with the mobile phone than any other consumer electronics device, content is obtained from a variety of sources,” ABI Research Director Michael Wolf said. “This shows that despite the strong control most carriers retain over the networks, their control over the mobile content ecosystem remains limited. The consumer will see more and more options for obtaining rich media in the future.”
That’s good news for the adult industry, which historically has been “locked out” of carrier decks, ostensibly due to carriers’ concerns about the nature of adult content and potential outcry from conservative consumers.
The 14-percent of respondents to the ABI survey who said they use their phones to watch video was split nearly evenly between those who watch video from websites like YouTube (35-percent), from their own carrier’s video offerings (31-percent), and from video they “side-load” onto their mobile devices (28-percent). Side-loading generally involves installing small applications that connect mobile devices to off-deck content sources or allow consumers to transfer content from their PCs to their phones. Much mobile adult content is acquired through side-loading.
Music also was mixed: According to the survey, the leading source of music files on mobile phones was ripped CDs that are side-loaded (48-percent of mobile-music listening respondents). More than one third of music-listening respondents (35-percent) purchased music through their carriers.
Pre-loaded content such as games was among some of the most popular forms of entertainment: Six in 10 mobile gamers said they play only the games that came with their phones.
“As the mobile phone grows from being a voice-centric device to a multidimensional communication and entertainment device, content channels will continue to multiply,” Wolf said. “We expect to see increased content acquisition directly to the phone from the Web. And despite a loosening of control over content delivery to consumers, we believe the carriers will ultimately benefit as they open up their networks and handset platforms and look into taking advantage of increased advertising-supported content delivery.”
