By Roland Piquepaille
Once again, the porn industry appears to be an early adopter of new technologies. After taking billions of dollars from Internet users, several companies are starting TV-like adult services for wireless phones. These services will offer 1.5 to 7 frames per second. And the industry expects to make $1.2 billion per year by 2008. But a question remains unanswered, according to this article from the Kansas City Star: how prevent kids to use these services.The adult entertainment industry, which has netted billions of dollars through Internet pornography and gambling, is about to take on the wireless phone market.
VTX Inc., a Las Vegas company specializing in adult mobile content, is planning to launch a TV-like adult service for wireless phones as early as next week. The company said it initially would broadcast three X-rated channels to Internet-ready wireless phones offering both video and audio.
The service, called XTCMobile, will be broadcast at six or seven frames per second -- faster than a slideshow, but substantially slower than traditional TV broadcasts.
But will this kind of distribution be efficient? Here is the answer from James Morrison, CEO or CPO (chief porn officer) of Mobile Media, who originally developed the XTCMobile service.
Morrison says the service can't be compared to Internet- or video-based adult fare, mainly because no cellphone has a screen much bigger than 2 1/2 inches square.
"In this instance, size does matter," Morrison said. "Even if I run the frame rate up (from the current 1.5 frames a second), I doubt you will have the same arousal factor" that comes from seeing adult images on larger screens.
So will it be a big business?
Buoyed by analyst projections that mobile pornography could become a billion-dollar business worldwide, 50 or more companies -- including VTX -- already offer mobile porn services in Europe. Most offer only downloadable photos.
Paul Skeldon, a senior analyst with Juniper Research, said worldwide mobile porn could grow into a $1.2 billion-a-year industry in 2008. That's not a huge number when compared with the $70 billion that people reportedly spend on porn worldwide.
But what about access to these services by kids? The companies offering this kind of service will ask if you're old enough to use them, but how?
Skeldon said the code requires a user to send a text message saying he or she is at least age 18 before receiving adult content, a procedure he called inadequate.
"Any 14-year-old with rudimentary math knows how to take his birth date and add four years," Skeldon said.
[On the other hand,] Morrison said XTCMobile had developed technology to verify that subscribers are 18 or older. In addition to requiring a phone call and a credit-card number, the phone-based software that launches the service is protected by a personal identification number.
I don't know if you plan to use these services, but don't count on me to help you by giving you some links. You'll need to do your own research to find these companies.
Source: David Hayes, Kansas City Star, April 1, 2004
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