Mobile Music Adoption Revenues Set to Reach $17.5bn by 2012

Hampshire, UK -- Juniper Research reports global ringtone revenues heading for a decline while the global mobile music market is expected to continue to rise. The total value of the global mobile music market is expected to rise to more than $17.5bn by 2012, driven by rental music services and full-track downloads, according to a new report by Juniper Research.

According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, "I think it's fair to say that 2007 marked the tipping point as far as mobile music adoption was concerned. Far more subscribers began downloading and subscribing to music content in developed markets, and it must be said that that the publicity surrounding the iPhone launch undoubtedly contributed to consumer awareness of mobile music services per se."

However, the Juniper report also argues that current prices for ringtones are unsustainable and that the market for such services may already have peaked in a number of developed markets, arguing that competitive pricing allied to a steady migration to ad-funded and/or self-generated ringtones will lead to a gradual decline in global ringtone revenues.

"With some operators now offering full-track downloads at a comparable price to iTunes, there is little justification for a ringtone retail price point that is in many cases two or even three times this level," said Holden. "Furthermore, those aggregators whose portfolios are largely dependent upon the polyphonic ringtone will be unable to survive in the medium term unless they both rethink their pricing strategies and substantially diversify their product portfolios."

Other findings from the Juniper report include:

The China/Far East region will remain the largest regional marketplace for mobile music services, accounting for around 43% of sales per annum over the next five years

Ringtones, which accounted for 62% of the mobile music market in 2007, will account for just 38% by 2012

The report argues that more operators should emulate the Vodafone model and introduce similar subscription-based music rental services

Report Buyer Says China Mobile Phone Subscribers Hit 738 million in 2010

	NewswireToday - /newswire/ - London, United Kingdom
	Report Buyer, has added a new report which finds that the number of mobile subscribers in China will reach 738 million in 2010. The report, “1Q08 Mobile Forecast: China (2007– 2010)” finds that the large increase in subscribers enables operators to have very high subscriber growth rates. It finds that China Mobile will have a subscriber growth of 43.7% and China Unicom will have 24.6% over the 2007 – 2010 forecast period. Authors of the report forecast that China Mobile’s market share will increase to 70.8% and that of China Unicom will decrease to 26.8% in 2010. They state that in 2010, China Mobile will enjoy a higher EBITDA margin of 53.2% compared to China Unicom, which will have an EBITDA margin of 34.7%. The study also predicts a lower US$ Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for China Mobile (US$ 11.43) and China Unicom US$ 6.69 in 2010. This forecast is mostly based on the exchange rate forecast for the US dollar.