The show will focus on responsible delivery of adult mobile content. More than 150 carriers, content providers, aggregators, webmasters, venture capitalist, equipment manufactures, ISPs, software providers and developers are expected to attend.
The event will feature conferences and exhibitors. Attendees will have the chance to network during breaks and at parties. Black Marlin President Dan Garza stressed that the conference will not feature content and is not a promotional event.
“We’re taking this very cautiously,” Garza told XBiz. “This will be a very serious, executive-oriented show. We expect almost every carrier to be there and we’re getting very excited about it.”
Featured speakers will include Ron Jeremy and representatives from Vodafone, Playboy, Virgin Mobile UK, Nortel, Oh Mobile, Bango and WAAT Media. Garza said Freedom of Speech Coalition representatives also are expected to attend.
Speakers will discuss the role of mobile operators, including access control and age verification, adult mobile content commerce and distribution, regulatory issues, the role of aggregators and third party content providers and licensing and revenue sharing.
The issue of delivering adult mobile content remains controversial as carriers and providers increasingly look to reap revenues from the adult market, which Jupiter Research says is set to reach revenues of $2.1 billion by 2009.
“You have people that are for it and you have people that are dead set against it,” Garza said, who spent a decade working in the pre-paid mobile arena, before co-founding Black Marlin. “Either way, it’s going to happen. There’s no way it can be stopped. We understand how carriers feel about putting that kind of content ‘on deck.’ They have to feel comfortable with it.”
However, U.S. sales total just $30 million of the market, mostly because carriers, fearful of a backlash, haven't provided easy access to X-rated theater. Web-enabled phones can download porn from the Internet, but access is cumbersome, and carriers don't share fees with content providers.
Jupiter’s research also notes that mobile operators realize the opportunity for revenue growth will arrive hand-in-hand with the added social responsibility to control and monitor delivery.
“Mobile carriers don’t want to lose subscribers but they don’t want to give up those [potential] profits either,” Garza said, adding he feels it’s important that carriers figure out a way to keep children from being allowed to download adult content via their mobile devices.
The absence of V-chip-style parental controls largely has kept U.S. consumers from using cellphones to access porn, but Cingular, along with rivals, may launch a huge new porn platform, with its recent launch of filtering devices and password-enabled blockers. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association recently issued content ratings standards, prompting Cingular's move.
Still, various marketers are lining up to tap the U.S. mobile market, including Xobile, which will offer 50,000 video clips, COO Harvey Kaplan said. Ron Jeremy’s name also is already licensed to RJ Mobile, which offers adult content in Britain and Holland.