Ringtones & Premium Content to Hit $43 billion

Cell phone premium content, which includes ringtone sales, is expected to exceed $43 billion by 2010, according to a study by iSuppli Corp. The study says that the 2004 market for premium content was $5.2 billion worldwide.

Mobile music, specifically ringtones and ringtunes, is the largest and fastest growing premium content segment in the wireless world. The market for ringtones made great strides in 2005 as it rapidly grew to a $3.8 billion industry.

At the same time, revenue from mobile games increased by about 80 percent in 2005. Mobile video also shows great potential, but is still in its early stages, even in Asia which has been recognized as the leader in the mobile industry. Mobile TV is still relatively new and the study estimates that only 12% of total phones sold by 2010 will be TV enabled.