Although the Sept. 17 article, “Ring Tones, Cameras, Now This: Sex is Latest Cellphone Feature,” described current mobile porn offerings as “crude,” it went on to maintain that the industry is poised for serious growth in the coming year, and that the refusal of major cellular carriers to sell pornographic content may fade quicker than anyone expected.
“We had been working for several weeks on this story with [the Times reporters],” Harvey Kaplan, director of mobile operations for Xobile, said. “They singled out Xobile as the primary provider of adult video clips, noting that I believe thirst for sex-related content would drive the popularity of Internet-enabled phones.”
Although adult content sales on mobile phones is still in its infancy, many analysts predict it will grow steadily in the coming years, and research firm the Yankee Group estimates sales will reach nearly $200 million annually by 2009.
Xobile has reported the company signs an average of 6,000 new customers every month. The site offers a range of content from many top-name studios, 152 different genres, and recently signed an eight-month exclusive licensing deal with Vivid Entertainment Group.
“The pornography industry is eyeing the cellphone, like the video cassette recorder before it, as a lucrative new vehicle for distribution,” Kaplan said.