Strong businesses are built on the banks of freely-flowing market forces, and one must harness and damn the market up reasonably well so as to make the most of the opportunity. Wisely, mobile content providers have taken advantage of the continually strong pop music market and that of mobile media as well – cell phones have undergone a swift and continuous transformation from business tool to personal item over the last few years – and the combination of markets both music and mobile has been a match made in heaven. With no shortage of pop artists and record labels all seeking to maximize the added market leverage afforded by the mobile user base, and mobile users seeking to individualize their phones by tailor-fitting the ringtone settings [among others] to their own personal styles, this trend looks to be continuing for quite some time.
Astute mobile service providers have also taken advantage of the technology at hand. The website format is one of the fastest ways to reach their market base, with a flashy but easy-to-maintain interface that doesn’t cost a lot of overhead. If their mobile phone is compatible with the service and the provided file formats, consumers simply visit the website, register, select their preferred song or ringtone, and pay via Paypal or credit card charge – a simple enough format that has proven very user-friendly, attractive and streamlined even for a market base that has begun to embrace the simplicity and ease of making their own ringtones.
The direct-to-consumer approach has worked well for companies like Dada Enterprises and Bongotones, and indeed various players in that aspect have reported growth even in a time of bottoming out for ringtone sales. Thumbplay in particular – a US-based direct-to-consumer subscription service that provides games, music and video for users to download for a fee – reported consistent growth between 2007 and 2008, increasing the size of its library of unique titles – ringtones, games, wallpaper and other content – and continuing to attract traffic to its web and WAP-access sites. The company turns five this year, having been founded in September of 2004 by Are Traashdal and Evan Schwartz, and continues to do well with the licensing support of various music labels – Universal Music, Sony, Warner, EMI – and media companies such as Universal Pictures, Disney Interactive, Glu Mobile and others.
The service is considerably diverse and flexible, allowing you to download a multitude of content options for your mobile phone – cell phone graphics and wallpaper, mobile games, and various MP3-format ringtones are available for use with AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, SunCom and T-Mobile. There are varied fee structures depending on how many credits or content items you acquire – basic memberships [which entitle a user to photo uploading and other basic services] are free, while a download-enabled credit-loaded membership costs $9.99 monthly. Ringtones cost 4 credits [$2.99], wallpapers cost 2 credits [$1.99] and so on.
While a number of mobile service providers are regrettably incompatible with what Thumbplay provides, it remains a positive note that Thumbplay is very thorough and helpful with what does work. Their customer support – provided through an extensive online FAQ sheet and email-response service – is typically a strong feature cited by users as efficient and understandable, making it accessible to even the most tech-inept layman seeking to jazz up his phone with some great ringtones.
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