Mobile Porn Almost at, Uhhh, Hand
If you’re reading this, then you probably aren’t in Miami Beach right now attending the 3rd Annual Mobile Adult Content Congress where porn business folks are gathered to discuss how to get their naughty bits (literally) onto mobile devices.
But unless topics like “How To Minimize The Technical Hurdles To Get Adult Content Distributed By International Carriers” turns you on, don’t expect this convention to be at all titillating. Porn is, of course big business, and adult content on mobile is expected to reach $3.5 billion globally by 2010. Reuters notes that the iPhone, with its graphics, video, and web browser capabilities could be the catalyst for truly mobilizing adult content.
But not so fast. There are a number of issues the industry must overcome before that’s realized. Carriers are reluctant to carry pornography, wary of a backlash from consumers, and there are age verification (can’t let the young’uns see) and privacy issues as well. Reuters reports that Gartner analysts Michael King sees mobile porn becoming more widespread around 2009.
Mark your calendar for the 4th Annual Mobile Adult Content Congress to find out if that prediction comes true.
Recent
GigaOM Network
Copyright 2001–2008 Giga Omni Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress.com. Marketing consulting by ACS.
The mobile adult market actually earned 1.7 billion dollars last year, so is already on it’s way and is expected to earn 4.6 billion dollars by 2012 according to the latest Juniper Report on Adult Mobile Content, released at the end of last year.
There are many more issues surrounding this type of content in the US, where legal complications like “asking for a user’s credit card details will infringe on his rights” are the main topic of discussion as apposed to how to ensure the “young’uns” can’t get their hands on it and how to ensure that consenting adult can! This has already been achieved in the UK with great success all round by Operators, Regulators and Content Providers working together to find a solution that works for all sides.
This of course becomes much more complicated when it’s a territory the size of the US and the relative number of issues that are raised to stop it, which is why mobile erotica has not really taken off in the US yet like it has in Europe. As a case in point our business was one of the first in the world to sell mobile erotica in 2003 and remains 100% focused on it . We currently distribute to around 35 territories worldwide and over 40 operator mobile portals, so from my point of view, it’s already quite wide spread. ;)
Julia Dimambro on January 30th, 2008 at 8:45 pm - Permalink
Can I just say that the title of the article is pure genious.
Jordan on February 1st, 2008 at 11:26 am - Permalink
As a mobile entertainment analyst (top 500 fortune company), I follow the trends and technology of this ‘wild west’ mobile marketplace. The mobile porn industry is definitely on my radar. Just a couple of quick comments concerning your article (and comments left concerning article). Mobile porn is alive and thriving in the USA. Check out the 739.com link I left under my name as an example mobile erotica site that has a huge USA consumer base. This site offers the “off deck” approach, simply avoiding the carriers, altogether. Lastly, look out for Location Based Services, relating to porn, as these companies get even more mobile tech savvy. This will undoubtedly assist in, I believe, surpassing the already huge numbers we expect in this industry.
Dave Pesci on July 1st, 2008 at 11:45 am - Permalink