The Future Market for Mobile Entertainment

Computing writes that UK firm Informa Telecoms & Media is predicting the market for mobile entertainment could reach $42.8 billion by 2010. Informa projects that mobile music and gaming will each be worth about $11 billion with gambling bringing in $6.2 billion and mobile TV and downloadable files making up the rest.

Informa analyst Simon Dyson said, "The growth of mobile music has been astounding, from a cottage industry making basic monophonic ring-tones in 1998 to a multi-billion dollar global business on which the music industry is staking much of its future."

The numbers seem a bit inflated to me. Canalys analyst Rachel Lashford tends to agree, but doesn't really go out on a limb when she comments that Informa's projections "seems very optimistic for a five-year prediction. The growth of this market relies on what catches the public attention and, given the competition for things like MP3 players and phones, the market could return a lot less."

What's most interesting in Informa's report is the relatively small share for mobile adult entertainment at only $2.3 billion, while the mobile gambling market is expected to be three times that amount in 2010. With online poker being all the rage, I always thought it might be perfect for the mobile medium, and I guess in Informa's eyes the potential to win money trumps sex for the mobile crowd...

via Computing