Recently, XBiz caught up with a handful of online adult industry leaders to get their take on the future, by asking "What Emerging Technologies Are You Most Excited About?" Here's what they had to say:
"I have been playing in the mobile phone market — specifically live video over cellphones," said Legendary Lars, President of Streamray Inc. "I think that this emerging area of Internet Protocol is poised to be the next big adult push, along with more interactive video services and two way video chat. Our recent acquisition of cams.com along with several mobile video domains puts us in a nice position to take advantage of this next wave of the adult industry."
"I am most excited by Digital Rights Management. I love that it gives content producers, webmasters and models more options on how to distribute their product as well as the ability to control their content," said Aimee Sweet, Owner of ModelCash.com. "I like how it can also broaden one's customer base from the traditional subscription basis to include pay-per-view customers too. I think that before long, even the smallest websites will be using DRM to protect and to market their content."
"With KSEXradio.com joining the Akimbo network, we are already very pleased to be expanding our Internet streaming products," offered Wankus, KSEXradio.com's Program Director. "Now with the recent announcement that the Akimbo program may come standard with commercial and personal computers worldwide, I'd like to think we're very excited about technology's future. This recent development means that millions of new users will have an opportunity to listen to KSEX."
According to SEXMoney.com Marketing and Webmaster Relations Manager, Matthew "Chipmunk" Sclier, "We're making great progress with SMS dating here in the United States. It is very large in the European marketplace. As mobile technology evolves and once the quirks are worked out, reverse SMS billing will become a larger portion of revenue not only for the adult industry but mainstream as well. SMS is coming and eventually it will catch on like it did in Europe and will play a large role in how billing takes place for mobile dating and porn, which will be gigantic."
"I am constantly amazed by the ever-changing future of adult entertainment," opined Adella O'Neal, Marketing and PR manager for Digital Playground. "I believe that today's consumer demands high production value in every facet of filmmaking, and to compete in the new market, producers will have to employ more mainstream philosophies. New technologies and higher production values will lend legitimacy to the business, making it easier for women to accept. The gender-equal sexual revolution that is taking place is ultimately a result of the Internet and emerging digital formats, both sound and video."
"I would have to say that the most exciting technology is in the realm of streaming video," said Stephen Bugbee, Vice President of GigaCash. "Broadband is finally catching up, and encoding algorithms are getting better and better everyday. I look forward to a day when a single source video file is encoded on the fly in "real time" for distribution to a computer, PDA, set-top box, cellphone or television with the set speed and frame size depending on what the delivery device can handle. This is happening as we speak but not at the level of sophistication I expect it to take."
The insight of these industry leaders illuminates a pathway to the tools, technologies, and techniques that webmasters need to embrace going forward into the future. If there are things that you would like to add to this list, or comments about the things already on it, then use the message thread below to let your feelings and personal insights be known.
