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Big Challenges Remain for Wireless Multimedia Sector

7:00 am on February 28, 2007 | Category: Internet, Mobile Devices, Multimedia, Wireless

Wireless multimedia devices like the Apple iPhone seem to be capturing plenty of public attention these days, but some critical questions about content monetization still remain to be answered, according to Hamilton Sekino, a partner at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants.

The search for steady revenue on the wireless entertainment frontier will be a bumpy and risky road, to be sure, with many risks and dilemmas along the way.

“Companies will hit some dead ends in their search for new revenue,” Sekino explained. “But there’s no question that mobile phones are emerging as key devices for the delivery of content. Content providers that do not increase their focus on wireless are taking the far greater risk of losing a new wave of digital distribution.”

“We expect the total US wireless revenue for the video games, music, TV, and news & information segments to grow from $1B in 2005 to $8B in 2010, with annual growth rates of 30% to 150% for various segments,” Sekino went on to say. “In the video games segment, the wireless share of revenue could reach 18 percent of total revenue, in the music segment, 14 percent. That potential growth can’t be ignored.”

Sekino believes that mobile content providers will need to work alongside wireless carriers to build a mutually beneficial “shared roadmap,” sharing strategies and tactics for dealing with “the next frontier of media and entertainment development and distribution.”

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