The New York Times used adult mobile movie provider Xobile.com as the focal point for a front page story September 17 headlined “Ring Tones, Cameras, Now This: Sex is Latest Cellphone Feature.” The story was picked up by dozens of other papers around the world.
Harvey Kaplan, director of mobile operations for Xobile.com, a division of Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN), is quoted extensively in the story by Matt Richtel and Michel Marriott. OhMobile president Jason Edwards is also quoted in the piece.
“With the advent of advanced cellular networks that deliver full-motion video from the Internet – and the latest wave of phones featuring larger screens with bright color – the pornography industry is eyeing the cellphone, like the video cassette recorder before it, as a lucrative new vehicle for distribution,” Kaplan said.
While noting that some providers are facing technical difficulties other concerns in delivering content to cell phones, the reporters say Xobile.com has engineered a way around these challenges.
“Mr. Kaplan, from Xobile, said the growth of Internet-based pornography for phones let major wireless carriers benefit from the activity – through the data charges when their customers download information — without having to sponsor it.”
The Times reported that to use Xobile.com, “a customer signs up and enters a credit card number at the company’s Website from a computer or a mobile phone. The customer can choose to watch the clip immediately as streaming video, or download it to view later. 'When you allow people access to the Net by phones, the telecom companies are empowered with one of my favorite legal terms – plausible deniability,' Kaplan said.”
The Times reported that Ohmobile began in May and plans to add video within the next month.
"The company is led by Jason Edwards, who for six years has operated Internet pornography sites through a parent company, Global Internet Holdings, based in Carson City, Nev.," the newspaper wrote.
"Adult for mobile is where adult for Internet was 10 years ago," Edwards told the Times. The newspaper reported that Edwards "declined to say how many people had signed up for his mobile service, which typically charges $1.95 for a still image and plans to charge around $4 for a video clip."
The Times story was syndicated on the newspaper’s wire service and was quickly picked up by other newspapers, including the International Herald Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, Houston Chronicle, Arizona Republic, The Asian Age in Bombay, CNET, ABC News and many others.
“We had been working for several weeks on this story with Matt Richtel and Michel Marriott, who did an excellent job of reporting on our new industry,” said Mr. Kaplan. “We are particularly pleased that they singled out Xobile.com as being the primary provider of adult video clips, noting that I told them that I believe ‘that thirst for sex-related content would drive the popularity of Internet-enabled phones.’”
