Mobile porn

Mobile porn also known as mobile adult content, mobile erotica or cellphone adult content, is pornography distributed over mobile telecommunications networks for consumption on mobile devices; mainly mobile phones and smartphones.^[1] Just like the internet and pay TV, the adult entertainment industry was one of the very first forms of mass media to embrace mobile devices as a new means to distribute content; with some of the earliest forays into adult SMS and the Mobile Web (WAP) as far back as 2002.^[2] Since then, the mobile porn business expects to grow to a market value of $2.3 billion in 2010.^[3]

North America

Widespread adoption of Apple's iPhone may encourage growth in the mobile porn industry in North America.^[4] Since the release of the original iPhone in the summer of 2007 the search term "iPhone Porn" has spiked in popularity. Because 37% of iPhone users watch video on their iPhone^[5] and 67% of US iPhone users are male.^[5] Other companies in the mobile and video industries are situating themselves to take advantage of this trend. Google is building a new phone system that the company claims will support any application, presumably including porn, while YouTube is in negotiations to offer free softcore porn content on 100 million advanced cell phones.^[6]

In fact, while so-called "smartphones" comprised only 14% of the mobile devices sold in 2009, according to AdMob, a prominent adult ad-serving network, they generated more than 65% of the total ads served to mobile devices. The vast majority of these devices ran iOS, Apple's iPhone operating system (OS), however other devices are now catching up.^[7]

The North American mobile erotica market differs from Europe in that carriers are not allowing adult sites to use their billing mechanisms such as billing via premium SMS, slowing market growth.^{[citation needed]} There are sites specifically geared towards iPhone customers and do not allow the site to be viewed by non-mobile browsers. Other business models involve offering free videos in the 'tube' style of websites. For the cost of viewing an ad, users can get free video clips. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corporation announced in early 2008 that they plan to allow some adult content to be viewed on their networks, while working to prevent access to this content by children. There have been expectations for some time that these companies will overcome age-verification, political, and religious challenges that have become a barrier to this market, to take advantage of the resulting increase in mobile web-surfing on their networks.^[6]

During 2010, many North America based mobile porn sites formerly optimized for only the iPhone modified their site design to take advantage of any WebKit based browser on a mobile device. Phones such as the Palm Pre or those running on Android are examples of this type. Many third party mobile porn app stores have been released on Android to exploit the growing market. Apple chairman Steve Jobs has made it clear that no adult content would be sold from Apple's App Store.^[8]

Criticisms

There has been some criticism regarding mobile porn, with children possibly being exposed to the inappropriate and unregulated content.^[9][10] Network operators have implemented age verification systems though, which demand customers who want to buy porn through their phone to be a verified adult first.

Sony, the company which created the PSP, say they are unhappy with the spread of PSP porn, but claim to be unable to stop its spread.^[11]

References

1. ^ Lynn, Regina (2004-10-29). "Porn Is Going Mobile". Wired. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65509,00.html. 
2. ^ Private in largest campaign to push adult SMS services.
3. ^ Ryan, Emmet (2006-11-28). "Mobile porn market set to explode". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/28/mobile_porn_to_increase/. 
4. ^ Caplan, Jeremy (2008-06-18). "The iPhone's Next Frontier: Porn". Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1815933,00.html. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Nielsen Provides iPhone Statistics" (Press release). The Nielsen Company. 2008-07-15. http://www.nielsenmobile.com/html/press%20releases/iPhone3G.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Carew, Sinead (2008-01-30). "Porn to spice up cell phones". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN3030000720080130?sp=true. Retrieved 2008-08-26. 
7. ^ "Mobile Porn Captivates an Ever Growing Audience". http://articlezones.com/life-styles/mobile-porn-captivates-an-ever-growing-audience.html. 
8. ^ "Steve Jobs Offers World Freedom From Porn". 2010-07-01. http://gawker.com/5539717/steve-jobs-offers-world-freedom-from-porn. 
9. ^ "Children 'can access mobile porn". BBC News. BBC. 2006-02-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4671334.stm. 
10. ^ Rafferty, Tom (2006-04-25). "Boy cited for taking porn to school". Bismarck Tribune. Lee Enterprises. http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/04/25/news/local/113696.txt. 
11. ^ Thomson, Iain (2005-06-20). "Sony unhappy over PSP porn". vnunet. Incisive Media. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2138305/porn-sony-psp. 

External links

• "CTIA-The Wireless Organization Content Guidelines"
• "Mobile porn is a $1 bln industry in 2005", ZDNet, December 13, 2005
• "Strategy Analytics ups mobile porn forecast to $5 bln by 2010" ZDNet, March 17, 2005
• Best, Jo (2006-11-28). "Cell phone porn to ring up $3.3 billion". ZDNet News. CNET Networks. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6138939.html.