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Music on the Move

Mobile phone users' worldwide spend on music for mobile devices will reach US$32.2 billion by 2010 according to forecasts from Gartner.

Mobile phone users' worldwide spend on music received and played on mobile devices will reach US$32.2 billion by 2010, up from US$13.7 billion in 2007, according to forecasts from Gartner.

Two distinct factors are driving the use of mobile music according to the research company: personalisation and entertainment. The purchase of ringtones and ringback tones (tunes played on the call recipient's phone that can be chosen by the caller) is part of a wider trend to personalise mobile phones as a form of self-expression. More recently, however, mobile phones are being used to play music, in some situations replacing portable music players such as an iPod for entertainment.

"The mobile phone has become the device that people carry everywhere, in all circumstances,” said principal research analyst Stephanie Pittet. “Over-the-air downloads mean that people no longer have to be at a desk to plug in the device. Billing via a mobile phone is secure and easy, and for operators, it is easy to target customers with personalized content because one mobile phone SIM card is used by one person most of the time."

Dollars Forecast to be Spent on Mobile Music

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Full Tracks, Realtones and Ringback tones	1,736.9	3,007.0	6,588.2	12,288.1	19,582.1	26,092.1
Mono and Polyphonic Ringtones	4,380.0	6,044.4	7,132.4	6,918.4	6,572.5	6,112.4

Source: Gartner Dataquest (October 2006)

The largest market for mobile music is currently the Asia/Pacific region, which accounted for more than double that in North America. The area will still be the biggest spender in 2010, Gartner says, but other countries will catch up. Western Europe is forecast to be the second largest spender on mobile music, with North America third.