May 30, 2007
'Side-Loading' Could Kill Wireless Carriers' Entertainment Plans
Despite spending billions of dollars to deliver entertainment to subscribers, wireless carriers are unlikely to dominate in providing music, video and games to mobile phones, a market researcher said Tuesday. TechWeb reports.
"The biggest challenger to operators is a practice known as "side-loading," which is the loading of content in phones via PCs or other devices. The practice essentially bypasses premium services sold by mobile communication providers, iSuppli said.
By 2010, the number of phones that include USB ports is expected to number 764 million units, making the wired connection to a PC or other device the most ubiquitous interface in the industry".
... Consumers' preference to tap multiple content sources for mobile devices has already been established. For example, most of the music played on the highly successful Apple iPod are ripped from CDs, not bought from Apple's tightly integrated online music store iTunes, analysts say.
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