Industry Expert Blogs

Do you remember when you had to pay for ringtones? In 2005, analysts were predicting that ringtones would be a $10+B market by 2010. In that pre-smartphone era, you could only install a ringtone if your service provider gave you permission. You had to pay for the ringtone, and your service provider got a cut of the revenue. Germany ringtone provider Jamba had $600M annual revenue selling ringtones. Today, your phone will install any sound file you have as a ringtone, and you don't need your cell phone's service provider's permission. Since that permission was the only thing that enabled the market to exist at all, it vanished as fast as it had appeared. Actual size of 2010 ringtone market, approximately zero.