Porn to spice up cellphones
2008-01-31 08:09
New York - Size matters in
pornography, except when it comes to tiny cellphone screens,
the next frontier for erotica.
If the adult entertainment industry has its way, Americans
will soon get a choice of free porn on cellphones - or at
least some photographs of good-looking girls in bikinis.
Unlike in Europe, cellphone porn has yet to take off in North
America as carriers have been afraid of offending political and
religious groups and parents concerned about children being
exposed to adult content.
That may change this year as phone companies plan to loosen
control on their networks to allow a wider variety of gadgets
and services, while introducing new tools to shield minors. More
advanced phones with better web browsers like Apple Inc's
iPhone also offer higher quality pictures and video.
"It will be impossible to stop the adult business
exploitation of mobile entertainment," said Gregory Piccionelli,
a lawyer specialising in adult entertainment at law firm
Piccionelli & Sarno.
He predicted that US consumers may soon be offered free
porn on cellphones alongside paid services like live video or
"adult dates", a term for prearranged sex with strangers.
A conference being held in Miami this week is devoted to
discussing mobile opportunities as the porn industry seeks to
find a new driver of growth. A surfeit of free online porn sites
has cut into profits that have so far come mainly from DVDs,
videotapes and pay-per-view or subscription-based websites.
To survive, adult entertainers need to be on top of phone
trends, said Jay Grdina, president of adult entertainment
provider ClubJenna Inc, which he co-founded with his wife,
world-famous porn star Jenna Jameson.
Titillation to go
"If you don't evolve you're going to die. ... We need to
make sure we're ready," Grdina said in an interview before his
keynote speech at this week's Mobile Adult Content Congress,
where adult entertainment and technology companies are
brainstorming over how to make cellphone porn a viable business.
Popular video-sharing site YouTube.com's plan to expand to
about 100 million advanced cellphones may help the cause, even
if it means some ClubJenna content - which includes everything
from glamour photographs of scantily clad models to hardcore
videos - is seen for free on phones. ClubJenna was sold to
Playboy Enterprises Inc in 2006.
"It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's giving
away content. ... On the other hand, it's expanding the brand,"
said Grdina, adding that ClubJenna needs a boost in the US
market, where it generates "pretty much zero" mobile revenue
compared with "very healthy" revenue in Europe.
While he has had trouble winning deals with US phone
operators so far, Grdina hopes for a deal within 18 months to
sell photographs of bikini-clad models without nudity.
Pornography has made inroads on cellphones in Europe, where
it was a $775m industry in 2007 that will grow to $1.5bn by 2012, with the global market reaching $3.5bn in
2010, according to Britain-based Juniper Research.
In comparison, North America generated just $26m last
year as carriers shied away from porn sales. Canada's
second-largest phone company Telus Corp, for example, withdrew a
porn service last year after complaints from hundreds of
customers and criticism from the Catholic Church.
Gartner telecoms analyst Michael King said he expects cellphone
porn to be more prevalent around 2009, when there will be more
phones that can show high-quality graphics.
Porn is "one of the bigger pieces of web revenue. You would
assume the natural extension would be on mobile", King said.
Boosting consumer choice
Piccionelli said the iPhone - which Apple has forecast to
sell 10 million units by the end of 2008 - is ideal for viewing
porn due to its graphics and web browser that mimics computer
browsers. Most phones have stripped-down browsers.
A new phone system being built by Google Inc may also boost
consumer choice as the internet company has pledged to support
any type of mobile software.
But the key to development of cellphone porn may be willingness
by carriers to open their networks to more content. Even if they
don't sell porn they would benefit from additional fees paid by
consumers if mobile web-surfing increases.
Verizon Wireless, the second-largest US mobile service,
has promised to let customers use any device or software that
can work on its network this year.
Similarly, Sprint Nextel Corp said it will support a wide
array of gadgets for a fast wireless web service it kicks off in
2008.
Spokesperson John Polivka said customers of the service would
be able to view anything they like. Sprint will also provide web
filters to help keep minors from adult sites.
NeuStar sells an age-verification system for which it aims
to have both a US carrier client and a content customer within
six months.
"Two thousand eight is when the first people are going to be
sticking their toes in the water," said John Ticer, a NeuStar
marketing executive.
Piccionelli said cellphone porn will always face uncertainties,
such as a possible privacy backlash against age-verification
systems as consumers need to give personal details.
"However, that does not mean that uncertainty will prohibit
enormous profits from being made in this business," he said.