July 29, 2004
All abuzz over ringtones
What started out as a gimmick for recording companies has become a full-blown trend. Ringtones are a youth fashion statement today, just like blue-jeans in the 1970s, reports the Malaysia Star.
"EMI Malaysia managing director Darren Choy said, “We are seeing a new generation of people who actually buy more ringtones than CDs. It's really puzzling ... if you buy 10 ringtones, you can actually buy an album to last you a lifetime.”
Ringtones as a fashion statement:
Perhaps it's because you can show off a ringtone but you can't show off “listening to an album in your living room,” suggested Choy.
While clothes still make the man, your choice of ringtone, may tell as much about your personality as the pair of jeans you just splurged on. People may even size you up based on the type of ringtone you have.
“We believe that ringtones have added a new dimension of personalisation to mobile communications for our customers. It has allowed them another chance to put their personality onto their mobile device which today has become an extension of who we are,” said Maxis Communications general manager and head of product development and management Karim Abdul Malik.
In Numbers:
-- Ringtones are the most downloaded type of mobile entertainment content, ranking above Java games, wallpapers and logos, said Maxis. Currently 67% of its subscribers' downloads consist of ringtones.
-- Maxis, which claims to have nearly five million subscribers out of a total of 12 million handphone users in Malaysia, said that 60% of its ringtone customers downloaded at least two ringtones in the last 12 months.
The ringtone business is now roughly equivalent to 10% of the US$32.2bil (RM122.4bil) global music market.
Although no official local estimates were available, sources suggest that the ringtone figure in Malaysia is closer to 5% of the local music market, with a ringgit value of RM5mil. "
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