August 12, 2005
Ring tones that bite and zing
Ben Chamy in an article in News.com writes that an increasing number of ring tones are adapted from bits of speech, movie sound effects and other unconventional sources, including adult-film actress Jenna Jameson, who has created an R-rated ring tone that is said to be among the best-selling cell phone alerts in Latin America.
"While there's little specific data on sales of these new novelties, there is anecdotal evidence suggesting they will emerge as the next big ring-tone trend, said Matt Kleinschmit, vice president of market analyst firm Ipsos Insight, which has been tracking the ring-tone market for several years.
The rest of the article is roundup of familiar stories for anyone reading this column, but one important story is missing, how a voice tone was used for the first time to destabilize a governemnt (a cellphone sound clip spread allegations that the President of the Philippines tried to fix the result of last year's election).
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