About time: Britney calling on your phone
Ringtones are taking off in the US as I can vouch -- in Silicon Valley I've run into friends of friends who're working for ringtone companies and I've gotten irritated that my Verizon Samsung cellphone has some of the most childish ringtones ever and doesn't allow me to substitute them by downloading some of the ringtones available online. OK, so I'm not interested in Madonna or Eminem...just something business-like and boring but I would still become a new ringtone customer! According to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
The U.S. has lagged behind Europe and Asia in cellphone technology, and ringtones are no different. In Western Europe, for instance, the ringtone market grew to €1.18 billion ($1.36 billion) in 2002, from €941 million the year before, according to the European Information Technology Observatory, a trade association in Frankfurt. In the U.S., ringtones generated only $16.6 million in sales in the U.S. last year, according to IDC. But the Framingham, Mass., research firm expects that figure to more than double this year and shoot up to more than $400 million in 2005.
Several developments are expected to fuel this growth. As wireless carriers search for new revenue streams, add-on features such as ringtones, wallpapers and games are seen as enticing existing customers to spend more, says Dana Thorat, a senior analyst at IDC.