US – tops in ringtones!

http://www.mmetrics.com/press/PressRelease.aspx?article=20060912-sept06benchmark

Since, we are so accustomed to hearing how the US lags Europe in mobile technologies and services offered over the mobile, it came as somewhat of a surprise to me when I read this
article.

As shown, the US leads Western Europe in all aspects of ringtone consumption. While it still lags in mobile music consumption – I think that this bodes well for the future of music consumption on the mobile phone here in the US. We are all aware of how the various competing standards and technologies have impeded a rapid growth of premium mobile services which are quite commonplace in Europe. But with new demands being placed on profitability in voice services, there are one of two ways that mobile operators can respond. Gain an early mover advantage in these new data and multimedia services and also lock in advertising revenues. Work in collaboration with each other to create a common platform that will allow users portability and flexibility and share profits based on quality of service as opposed to choice.

Obviously, from the consumer’s point of view the second option is the better one. This is how things have been in Europe, where the existence of a single GSM standard has made the user ‘king’ and the mobile companies more willing to be more innovative. But as the mobile users in the US become more discerning and demanding, the operators will be forced into one of the two above options. All early indications suggest that things are going down route 1. For eg: Apple iPhone is set to be launched as Cingular only. But it seems to me like this strategy is sustainable only in the short run. In the long run, there will be a definite convergence to single standard and interoperability, giving the consumer more choice and flexibility.