Mobile music hits the right note

Revenues from mobile music services will top US$14 billion worldwide by 2011, according to the latest statistics from industry analyst Juniper Research.

Asia Pacific is expected to contribute 40 percent of these revenues by this time, with Europe delivering 27 percent and North America 18 percent, while the rest of the world holds a 15 percent share.

Juniper predicts that with the advent of new technologies and increasing competition fuelling the drive for product innovation, there will be a significant shift in market emphasis from ringtones to over the air (OTA) full track music in the next five years.

During the period between 2006 and 2011, total revenues from mobile music services will see the proportional market share for ringtones fall from 81 percent to 51 percent, with OTA full track music rising from nine per cent to 32 percent.

This change is courtesy of OTA full track music taking off, as 3G networks and music-enabled handsets become more globally accessible and business models evolve, allowing consumers to purchase both PC and mobile music in a single transaction.

Bruce Gibson, research director at Juniper Research, said: “Until now ringtones have dominated mobile music, but the balance is shifting. Full track music has been the central offering of many 3G service launches around the world and as 3G usage gathers pace, the mobile music market is preparing to enter a new growth phase.”