"Interesting article by Reuters this week titled: "Porn to spice up cell phones"
Unlike in Europe, mobile 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. Mobile porn in Europe is estimated as a $775 million industry in 2007 that will grow to $1.5 billion by 2012, with the global market reaching $3.5 billion in 2010, according to Britain-based Juniper Research.
In comparison, North America generated just $26 million last year in mobile porn sales. Most North American carriers have not even discussed offering adult service and the only one who has, Telus, Canada's second-largest phone company, withdrew a mobile porn service last year after complaints from hundreds of customers and criticism from the Catholic Church.
This is another case of "here we go again" as adult content has always played a big role in driving technology adoption. Back in 1997 when RealNetworks launched its first Internet streaming video system, a large percentage of the initial client interest came from the adult sector. Online porn is now a huge business and unlike a lot of other online video segments, the business model works well because consumers are willing to pay for access.
Certainly there are some technology requirements needed (age verification, etc.) but this is a train that's impossible to stop and if the carriers were smart, they'd figure out how to generate revenue here.
"It will be impossible to stop the adult business exploitation of mobile entertainment," said Gregory Piccionelli, a lawyer specializing in adult entertainment at law firm Piccionelli & Sarno."
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