But while Europe will continue to account for the bulk of revenues from such services in 2005 – 69% of the total – Asia and the US are both expected to experience a dramatic increase in service usage, with the US mobile sports market worth more than US$1 billion by 2009.
According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “Sports services – even news alerts – are a comparatively recent phenomenon in the US. However, operators are rapidly building up extensive portfolios of sports services: Verizon now offers content from Fox and, ESPN, Sprint from CBS, Sports Illustrated and MLB. As subscribers become more accustomed to using handsets for non-voice services, it seems likely sports content will be among the most popular – and lucrative – of US mobile entertainment services.”
The report also covers the burgeoning market for mobile infotainment services, ranging from text-based interaction with TV shows such as Big Brother to MMS-based mobile soaps, a market expected to reach US$4.5 billion by 2009. Other findings from the report include:
- There will be more than 210 million users of mobile sports services worldwide by 2009, including 120 million in Asia;
- North American share of global mobile sports revenues to rise from 1% in 2004 to 26% in 2009;
- More than 380 million mobile users, or 21% of the global subscriber base, are expected to use some form of mobile infotainment service in 2005
Kaynak : 