Report Suggests Mobile Market To Hit $59 Billion By 2009

According to a new report from U.S. survey firm Juniper Research, the mobile content market is likely to create revenues of up to $59 billion by 2009, compared to $17.6 billion in 2005, with games making up 33% of that total. After gambling (33 percent), a surprising $19.3 billion predicted leader of revenue generation, and games (31 percent, $17.6 billion), the most popular mobile entertainment services in 2009 are expected to be music at 16 percent and sports related content at 8 percent. Dr Windsor Holden, the report's author, commented specifically of his perceived rise of gambling, which may include game-like elements: "Lotteries are ubiquitous in many countries, and if you start launching lotteries on mobile handsets than you're tapping into a form of gambling in which the majority of adults indulge on a weekly basis, while sports betting and casinos are also high-revenue businesses." Interestingly, ring tones, which currently account for 31 percent of the market are predicted to contribute no more than 8 percent by 2009, as the complexity of phones leads to more compelling multimedia content being available. The 2005 overall revenue figure of $17.6 billion is itself a 71 percent increase from 2004, showing the massive rise in interesting for mobile content and mobile gaming alike.