By: Ben Robinson, IntoMobile Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 6:48 AM
BMI has released projections for 2008, and is expecting ringback tones will generate over $210 million in the U.S. retail sector – this would be an increase of 50% on the numbers they did in 2007!
It’s not only Ringbacks that are predicted to be strong though – streaming video is expected to do well also. BMI has additionally predicted that ringtones themselves have had their day, and this market will decline, although still generating a healthy $510 million (projected) in FY08. Apparently this is equal to about a 7% drop (of a very big number!) on FY07.
BMI’s projections are based on it’s extensive data gathering from over 200 million US Mobile customers’ buying behaviour – whihc is believed to the the most comprehensive in the industry.
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career
when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has
now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the
next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas!
He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently
became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years
when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to
'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make
your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device)
isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question
of why you continue to use it...
His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and
infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the
occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience
in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with
regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.