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Rings, cameras--now sex is latest phone feature
Published: September 17, 2005, 9:05 AM PDT
By Michel Marriott and Matt Richtel
The New York Times

The cell phone, which already plays music, sends and receives e-mail and takes pictures, is adding a steamier offering: pornography.

With the advent of advanced cellular networks that deliver full-motion video from the Internet--and the latest wave of phones featuring larger screens with bright color--the pornography industry is eyeing the cell phone, like the videocassette recorder before it, as a lucrative new vehicle for distribution.

In recent months, that prospect has produced a cadre of entrepreneurs in the United States hoping to follow the lead of counterparts in Europe, where consumers already spend tens of millions of dollars a year on phone-based pornography.

The major American cellular carriers have so far been adamant in their refusal to sell pornography from the same content menus on which they sell ring tones and video games. But there are signs that they may soften their stance.

The cellular industry's major trade group is drafting ratings for mobile content - akin to those for movies or video games--signaling that phones, too, will be a subject of viewer discretion.

For now, the Web-based video available on many cell phones is crude. Images take time to load and appear grainy, and video feeds are often interrupted by inconsistent wireless signals.

But Roger Entner, a wireless industry analyst for Ovum, a market research firm, said that as use of the Internet on phones becomes easier, and as content ratings emerge, it was inevitable that phone-based pornography would become a fixture.

"It has every component that has proven conducive to the consumption of adult entertainment--privacy, easy access, and, on top of it, mobility," Entner said.

For the carriers, it is a tricky proposition. Offering pornography would stir a tempest over indecency and possible pressure from regulators or Congress. But conceding the field to third parties would leave millions of dollars on the table.

At present, sales of pornography over mobile phones in this country amount to virtually nothing. But cell phone commerce is on the rise, with sales of ring tones alone expected to reach $453 million this year, according to the Yankee Group, a research firm. The company estimates that by 2009, sales of pornography for phones will hit $196 million, still meager compared with a projected $1.2 billion for ring tones.

But the likelihood that pornography will be increasingly accessible by phone has children's advocacy groups mobilizing. This month, the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, a nonprofit group that seeks to promote "biblical morality," met with leaders of the wireless industry to voice concern that phones could provide minors with all-too-easy access to inappropriate material.

"The Internet hit us blindsided," said Jack Samad, a senior vice president with the group, referring to the slow reaction of children's advocacy groups to the advent of online pornography. "We are attempting to stay ahead of the curve" with regard to mobile phones, pressing cell phone carriers to give parents the ability to block access.

The Federal Communications Commission, meanwhile, has its own concerns, said David Fiske, a spokesman. "The commission takes very seriously the issue of inappropriate material reaching cell phones that are in the hands of children," he said.

Fiske declined to comment on what actions the commission might take. To some extent, though, the agency's hands are tied in that mobile phone carriers, like other telecommunications companies, are not responsible for what Internet sites consumers visit. But the carriers could be held accountable, experts said, if they take part in selling pornography to minors.

In the past, pornography has helped to drive the popularity of new technologies, including the videocassette recorder, cable television and the Web itself, and it is a source of revenue for many major media companies, including cable giants like Time Warner and Comcast, which have pay-per-view channels devoted to pornography.

Many of those in the business of pornography are not deterred
by today's technical difficulties in delivering cell phone video. Harvey Kaplan, director of mobile operations for xobile.com, a company in Charlotte, N.C., that sells two-minute hard-core video clips for download over phones, said he believed that thirst for sex-related content would drive the popularity of Internet-enabled phones.

"People aren't going to go out and buy a cell phone that streams video so they can watch a trailer of a Disney movie," he said. "But they will buy that phone if they have five minutes of quiet time" viewing sexually explicit video.

Xobile started in April, and Mr. Kaplan said that each month the company was adding 6,000 customers, who pay around 44 cents to see a two-minute video clip. To use the service, a customer signs up and enters a credit card number at the company's Web site from a computer or a mobile phone.

The customer can choose to watch the clip immediately as streaming video, or download it to view later.

Another fledgling company, ohmobile.com, which began in May, offers pornographic images and plans to add video within the next month. The company is led by Jason Edwards, who for six years has operated Internet pornography sites through a parent company, Global Internet Holdings, based in Carson City, Nev.

"Adult for mobile is where adult for Internet was 10 years ago," Edwards said. He declined to say how many people had signed up for his mobile service, which typically charges $1.95 for a still image and plans to charge around $4 for a video clip.

Kaplan, from Xobile, said the growth of Internet-based pornography for phones let major wireless carriers benefit from the activity--through the data charges when their customers download information--without having to sponsor it.

"When you allow people access to Net by phones, the telecom companies are empowered with one of my favorite legal terms: plausible deniability," Kaplan said.

The bigger purveyors of pornography are looking to become involved, too. "We look very forward to being one of the leaders in the business here," said Steven Hirsch, founder and chairman of Vivid Entertainment, the largest maker of sexually explicit movies, noting that wireless content could earn as much as 30 percent of the company's $100 million annual revenues. "We are perfectly positioned with the amount of content we have."

While some of Vivid's hard-core materials can be found "off network" (that is, not through the major cell phone carriers), he said his company was focusing on getting "on the deck"--available directly from the carriers' cell phone menus, as ring tones are. He said it was only a matter of time before the carriers resolved what he termed the fundamental roadblock: age verification.

"I think it's really about age verification more than anything else," he said. "I don't think it's about the content."

In England, for example, age verification is handled at the point of sale for cell phones. A buyer provides proof of age. If buyers are of the age of consent, they can stipulate that their phones have access to sexually explicit material.

Adam Zawel, an analyst with Yankee Group, said that for mobile phone users looking for content outside the carriers' own menus--directly over the Internet--the demand for pornography is already higher than for any other category.

In Europe, people spend at least $100 million a year for pornography, from soft-core images of scantily clad models to hard-core images and some video, Zawel said.
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The major carriers have said that for now they do not intend to include sexually explicit content on their menus. In a statement, for instance, Cingular Wireless said the company "does not provide adult content to its customers." But Cingular, the largest wireless company, also said it would not and could not stop people from using their phones to obtain such content directly from the Internet.

But the major carriers, like Cingular and Verizon Wireless, also note that they have protections in place--for instance, allowing Internet access to be blocked altogether on their phones.

John Walls, spokesman for CTIA, the mobile phone trade group, said that it expected to have content ratings in place early next year. Such ratings, he predicted, would include a category for people 18 or older, allowing carriers to feel more comfortable selling sex-oriented content--at least of the soft-core variety.

"If there's a demand for service or product, then just from a business standpoint you'd like to find a way to serve that demand," he said.

Entire contents, Copyright ? 2005 The New York Times. All rights reserved.