MultiMedia Intelligence reports the worldwide unit shipments of music phones exceeded ½ billion units
in 2007, outnumbering shipments of personal media players like the iPod by almost 300 million units. In 2011, over half of all mobile phones can be considered music phones with 941
million units shipped. MultiMedia
Intelligence defines a music phone as a phone with two features: (1) Music
codec functionality: MP3, AAC, etc.
and (2) memory slot which allows for a full featured music experience by
allowing the user to carry a personal music library. This is really only possible with
expandable memory.
“Voice commoditization and falling voice ARPU are
driving a shift in wireless operators to focus on data revenue models and services,”
according to Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer for MultiMedia
Intelligence. “Music has been the
first ‘killer app’ for the operators to drive the consumption of premium
content on the handset. As polyphonic
ringtones gave way to realtones, operators found consumers desire to
personalize their handsets as a way to enhance ARPUs. Music companies discovered a way to sell a
form of music which was less susceptible to piracy and provides incremental
revenue.”
However, realtones are but one form of cellular
music enjoyed. As the ringback tones,
full track downloads and streaming music markets join the ringtone market,
the mobile music market promises to hit over US $6 billion in 2008. With such significant revenue and customer
demand at stake, the operators and handset providers
concerted efforts to use music as a central part of their handset
strategies.
The recently launched Verizon
Wireless Juke, manufactured by Samsung, has a swivel design which enables it
to open 180 degrees to reveal the keypad. It features 2 GB of internal
storage that complements the phone’s music player, which supports .mp3, .wma
and unprotected .aac files. Other features include
VGA camera with Nightshot, Bluetooth stereo support
for listening to music and the ability to access Verizon Wireless’ popular
services such as VZ NavigatorSM and ChaperoneSM.
Another recent handset
introduction, the Sony Ericsson W910i Walkman phone capitalizes on the
Walkman brand and is targeted as a “portable music device.” The SensMe
feature picks songs or creates a playlist by mood. To randomly select a song,
the user only needs to flick of the wrist and use “Shake control.” The device features a 262, 44 color TFT,
240x320 pixel display and Memory Stick Micro support (up to 4 GB) with 35 MB
of internal memory.
MultiMedia Intelligence’s new research report, “Wanted: Multimedia Handsets—Consumer Desires Meet
Operators ARPU Needs” provides research, analysis and forecasts for music
phones, multimedia handsets and handsets with multimedia specific features
such as phones with touch screens, camera phones, mobile TV handsets, radio
phones, and phones with a host of alternative connectivity options. The report begins by looking at the
wireless industry trends that are driving the need for feature rich
handsets. It then looks at basic
multimedia handsets and their growth.
It turns its attention to feature rich multimedia handsets, including
the technology driving them, and unit forecasts and revenue outlook. Finally, it examines and forecasts handsets
with specific multimedia features.