It’s one thing to customize the ringtone that you hear when your friends and family call you. But, it’s an apparently more attractive option to choose what the caller hears when they call you. Ringback tones are either super-cool or super-annoying, depending on your preference.
With the success of these ringback tones, championed by Verizon Wireless in the US, a new study from IDC indicates that purchases of ringback tones will surpass those of traditional ringtones in 2010. The next couple years should see ringback tones as the single largest revenue stream for wireless providers.
The IDC study, Worldwide Mobile Entertainment 2007-20011 Forecast (Doc #210103), indicates that, of the $800 billion wireless market in 2011, “mobile entertainment will account for 5.1% of this total revenue.”
So, does that mean we’ll be seeing hearing those ringback tones anytime we want to make a call? Possibly. But before that can happen, more carriers are going to have to jump on board the ringback tone-wagon and allow the service on their network. I’d rather hear a regular ringer whenever I call someone.
[Via: textually]