Carriers Losing Grip on Mobile Content

• Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Market Survey, Mobile Content, Mobile Services

US Mobile phone users are obtaining mobile content from a variety of sources, including the Web, from their personal collections, and from their wireless carrier, according to a November 2007 survey conducted by ABI Research.

Of the 14% of mobile phone users who watched video on their phones, 35% did so through a Web site, 31% watched through a carrier's offering and 28% had sideloaded it onto their phone.

When it comes to music, most is sideloaded from personal collections. 48% of mobile-music listening respondents sideloaded their tunes, while 35% has purchased it through their mobile carrier.

Though games were the most popular form of mobile content, 60% of mobile gamers said they only played the games that came with the phone.

“This shows that despite the strong control most carriers retain over the network, their control over the mobile content ecosystem remains limited," said Michael Wolf, research director at ABI.

"Despite a loosening of control over content delivery to consumers, we believe the carriers will ultimately benefit as they open up their networks and handset platforms and look into taking advantage of increased advertising-supported content delivery.” [eMarketer]

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