August 19, 2007
History corrected of the first ringtones
One of my readers, Sumanth S Gopinath, who is writing a book on the subject, has pointed out that James Winsoar, who has been credited as the first person to sell downloadable ringtones via Nokia phones - may have been the first - but only in the UK.
"Research by Noriko Manabe has shown that downloadable ringtones appeared in 1997 in Japan (apparently, Astel Tokyo sold them), and in Finland, Vesa-Matti Paananen seems to have been the person to do this first in Europe, beginning in 1998.
The Paananen story can also be found in Dan Steinbock, "The Mobile Revolution: The Making of Mobile Services Worldwide" (London: Kogan Page, 2005), p. 125.
And Noriko Manabe's essay, "Going Mobile: The Mobile Internet, Ringtones, and the Mobile Music Market in Japan," ed. Gerard Goggin and Mark McLelland (London: Routledge, forthcoming).
Related:
-- Ringtone instigator celebrates 7 years in business
-- James Winsoar, first ringtone provider
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