Sex and wireless may be many people's idea of a match made in cyberheaven, but that doesn't necessarily mean sex will sell wireless services as quickly as some might believe, according to analysts for a British wireless telecommunications company.
The opportunities for wireless porn are probably limited to $1 billion by 2008, according to Strategy Analytics Wireless Internet Applications Service, who released a report April 16 reviewing that potential. The report indicates that adult community services like those in the works from AT&T Wireless and Match.com will ramp up quickly with the growth of camera and videophony, but the advantages for wireless as a "discrete" porn outlet are "overstated."
Even, so, "overstated" doesn't mean "impossible" or money losing, necessarily, the Strategy Analytics report emphasized. But according to senior analyst Philip Taylor, the value of wireless to porn "will be greater as a CRM-tool than as a distribution medium."
And with about half the global adult entertainment revenues believed now to be coming from the adult Internet, it means cyberporn lovers won't necessarily think immediately of wireless as an alternative to fixed Net services, according to Strategy Analytics vice president of global wireless practice David Kerr.
"(Wireless c)arriers must not allow themselves to get sidetracked, and must focus on implementing applications infrastructure platforms and business models that will open up mobile to media and entertainment industries, including adult entertainment, as swiftly as possible," he said.
