By 2006, entertainment on the mobile phone will generate 10p per subscriber per day according PPAi. In addition, 25% of all mobile subscribers in Europe will receive advertising. Pure information services, such as news and stock quotes, are expected to generate two pence per subscriber per day.
Horoscopes, cartoons, soap opera updates and screen savers will be amongst the most popular downloaded information. Heavy users are forecast to use ‘entertainment’ services up to 2.8 times per day. These estimates do not include music, gambling and games. Music via mobile phone in 2006 is expected to be consumed by 60% of all mobile phone users who will pay 10p per day for services.
3G strategy consultant Tomi Ahonen, who conducted the survey, said: “It is folly to think that nobody is consuming mobile content just because the numbers seem small in a telecom context. A few percent of 45 million users paying money for mobile content every day is a large number when compared with magazine subscriber numbers. Content providers must move now to be part of the mobile evolution of digital content, if they don’t their competitors will eat all the cake.”
