Universal's Mobile Sales

Universal Music, the world's largest music label, has for the first time, released figures on its year-old mobile division. It said in an analyst call that the market for ring-tone enabled handsets would double in the next three years. In its first full year, the Universal Mobile division has generated underlying earnings of €5m ($ 6 million) on sales of €30m ($36 million).

[via Rafat Ali for Moco News]

Nokia releases mobile content study

Nokia releases a study conducted by NOP World which finds 'out and about' consumers will pay more for mobile content, reports InfoSync World.

"According to a global market study conducted for Nokia - based on interviews with people who are mobile phone users and have access to the Internet -mobile content services hold promising revenue potential, with study respondents willing to pay for such services 28% more than they pay for their current services today.

Current mobile content usage is dominated by downloading ringtones (used by 40% of the respondents), followed by icons/screen-savers (22%).

However, current mobile content services are perceived as being too expensive".

Ringtone related domain names

Ringtonia's new weekly listing of SMS related domain names that have come up for sale and are available to the public again.

- 1001ringtonesandlogos.com
- 121ringtonesandlogos.com
- 1900ringtone.com
- alpha1ringtones.com
- bigte-ringtone.com
- collegefightsongringtones.com
- phoneyringtones.com
- phoneytones.com
- ringtonereport.com
- sendoringtone.com
- cellularphonesounds.com

The above names are available for registration now if anyone is interested. Source of information: Netcollateral.com.

 American Greetings Launches New Mobile Spinoff

From Rafat Ali on Moco News: "Much as expected, American Greetings is working on an overdrive after late entry into the mobile content market... AG Interactive, the interactive division of AG, has acquired MIDIringtones. The St. Paul, Minnesota-based MIDIRingTones creates, sells and distributes wireless content including ring tones, graphics, audio tones and games to mobile phones. Terms of the sale were not disclosed".

Universal Music UK To Distribute Music on Mobiles Through WebTV

Universal Music UK has signed a deal with UK-based Webtv Europe to enable the secure distribution of its music and video portfolio to mobile phones and hand-held devices, according to a company press release via Moco News.

Ringback Tone Service launches in the Philippines

Globe Telecom of the Philippines has made ringback tones available to its subscribers.

The service launched on April 17, 2004, under the service name of "MyGlobe Ringback," has surpassed 100,000 subscribers in just one week of the launch with multiple downloads by a majority of the users, according to a company press release.

Child safety on internet pushed by HelpingHandz promo

Helpinghandz, a digital loyalty scheme, is promoting safer surfing for kids in a mobile content giveaway, according to Daily Direct Marketing's online Bulletin.

"Users who sign up to the ringtone and mobile content portal HHTones for £2 will receive £10 worth of credits to spend on ringtones, logos and pictures. In return, the user must make five promises to act more responsibly online".

GoFresh Launches Music Album As Ringtones

From Moco News: "Gofresh, the German mobile music label, has launched its first album Europewide on mobiles.

The music group "SUPER SMART" from Munich (Germany) releases its complete album "Panda Babies" as polyphonic mobile phone ringtones with integrated voices and instruments only and not on traditional media like CD or vinyl. The price for the album is 1.99 Euro.

The complete eight track album plus bonus material is available for free during the first two weeks after release for every WAP and UMTS mobile phone at umts.gofresh.tv/supersmart. Afterwards it will be available at well-assorted ringtone distributors.

Ringtone Related Domains

Ringtonia's weekly listing of ringtone related domain names that have come up for sale and are available to the public again:

- a-zringtones.com
- alphaoneringtones.com
- apnaringtone.com
- mr-ringtone.com
- nokia--ringtones.com
- partypeopleringtones.com
- rebelringtones.com
- ringtone-phone.com
- ultraringtones.com
- ringtone-phone.net
- ringtonee.net

The above names are available for registration now if anyone is interested. Source of information: Netcollateral.com.

Special offers

NokiaMelodies.com is for sale. You can purchase it for just $ 35 from
100DollarDomains.com. Email: kalyan@MarketingMadeEasy.com to acquire the domain name.

I registered ringbacks.com (which redirects to Ringtonia). I would be willing to sell it for a good price. Anyone interested can make an offer. Email: emily@netsurf.ch

Teens Ring Up Market Share

The Washington Post has published a lengthy article on teenagers and ringtones. "Teens until recently just an afterthought to wireless companies -- are now considered a gold mine. Wireless carriers are learning that teens are capable of shaking loose their parents' purse strings in a big way".

"According to Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm, by the end of this year, people from age 11 to 24 will generate $21 billion in revenue for wireless carriers -- or nearly a quarter of the total cellular market".

Toshiba develops interesting new music search

Toshiba has finished prototyping an all-new way to search for music, where the user uses his or her phone to tap in the basic rhythm of a song they've heard, according to The Inquirer.

"Using an algorithm invented by Tosh, the system notes the time between key hits and compares them to the rhythm of songs contained in a large database.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Friday, for tests carried out with computers, the system delivered 99% accurate results.

Toshiba is still researching rhythms, and will carry on updating the software to try and get even more accurate results. Since the search is software based, the feature can be applied to all sorts of devices, including portable ones like PDA's and mobile phones – possibly to find that elusive ring tone you're after."

Eminem wins 'cyber-squatting' case

The UN's World Intellectual Property Organisation backed the Grammy-award winning singer in his complaints against eminemmobile.com, reports ITV.com.

"Eminemmobile.com published the Detroit rapper's trademark and sold picture messages of his image and mobile ringtones of his hits including Stan and The Real Slim Shady".

Country Music Ringtones

For country music lovers, here are some good places online where to download ringtones of your favorite Western singers:

- CountryStars.com, featuring ringtones from Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Kenny Chesney... as well as a Top 5 Ringtones Country Music chart.

-- Country Music Ringtones - an impressive catalogue of mono and poloyphonic ringtones of songs from Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Dixie Chicks, Mark Wills, Alan Jackson, Billy Ray Cyrus...

-- AOL Country - AOL's country music selection features two offers, not by artist, but by genre, "country style" and "square dance".

International Telephone Ring-Back Signaling Reference

This is technical information way over my head, but may be useful to some, it's an explanation on how ring-back signals are used in public switched telephone networks and lists a chart of ring-back signaling by country (frequency, cycle duration, amplitude...)

Mobilkom Austria offers free mobile MP3 downloads

Austrian mobile operator Mobilkom Austria has launched the A1 Music Zone, bringing music, news, ring-tones and MP3s to mobile phones, according to
DMeurope.

"Included in the portfolio are music-related general news, music charts and gossip, ringtones and tips on up-coming CD releases. The service is also offering MP3 files from new artists, which can be downloaded for free".

Chrysalis Mobile and Flytxt Make Music

The recently launched Chrysalis Mobile business is to partner with Flytxt to provide the delivery platform for a variety of mobile music services, according to Mike Grenveill for 160characters.org.

"Using the Flytxt platform, Chrysalis Mobile will act as a service provider to media and retail partners - sourcing and hosting music content across a number of genres for delivery to their consumer audiences on demand via mobile devices. Chrysalis Mobile is working with the record industry around individual artist promotion and with partners to integrate mobile music with their existing consumer marketing strategies".

Mobile content initially delivered through the partnership will include:

Ring Tones - Monophonic and Polyphonic
Real Tunes - Mobile edits of actual songs
Images and Other Artist Content "

Mobile ringtone sales boom

According to AT Kearney analyst Martin Fabel, interviewed by the Times of India, mobile downloads could account for 20-30% of music sales by 2006.