Mario Tapia

Two years ago I gave my nephew a Nokia 3300 and after a couple months I asked him if he wanted any ringtones for it. He told me he didn’t need any, he had started to cable load music on the phone and use it as an MP3 player. The phone was able to use the loaded MP3s as ringtones, once I saw this I knew the lifecycle of the ringtone was on the decline.

The recent announcement of Infospace’s loss of Cingular as a client for its ringtone service and the dramatic dip in its stock, plus the recent selloff of Jamster from Verisign to News Corp are all signs that the ringtone segment is in store for a shake up. New services such as Mixxer will allow the creation of personal ringtones as well as ringtone creation from your MP3 music catalog.

BTW, When was the last time you downloaded a monophonic or polyphonic ringtone to your phone? or How many of you know what a polyphonic is? …. I am definately dating myself here.

Here’s a list of MVNOs that have launched or in the works. I can’t believe the number…

• 9278 Mobile 18
• Affinity Mobile
• Airlink Mobile
• Airvoice Wireless
• Amp’d Mobile
• Apple Mobile
• Beyond Wireless
• Boost Mobile
• Bratz Mobile
• Bravo Cellular
• Cbeyond
• Circle K
• Consumer Cellular
• cool.Prepaid
• Cricket
• DBS Communications
• DEXA Wireless
• Disney Mobile
• Embarq
• Firefly Mobile
• Flying J
• GlobalTalk PCS
• Graffiti Wireless
• GTC Wireless
• HELIO
• JitterBug
• Jump Mobile
• kajeet
• Liberty Wireless
• Locus Telecommunications
• MetroPCS
• Microsoft Media Mobile - Zune
• MobileESPN
• Movida
• Nexus Mobile
• nTelos
• Omni Prepaid
• Page Plus Cellular
• PlatinumTel
• Primus Wireless
• Qwest Wireless
• Revol Wireless
• Speak Out Wireless
• Sprint Nextel Cable JV
• STi Mobile
• Total Call Mobile
• TracFone
• TuYo Mobile
• Virgin Mobile USA
• Voce
• Wal-Mart
• Working Assets Wireless
• XE Mobile
• XERO Mobile
• Xtreme Mobile

I’ll be at moderating a few panels for Mobile 2006 Summit in Mexico City this week, Mobile Latam Summit . I’m amazed at how much Latam has been come a hot bed for mobile content. Latin America is emerging as one of the world’s largest integrated markets for mobile content. By 2007, Tierra Innovation expects the mobile content market in Latin America to be worth upward of US$1.3 billion. Latin America Mobile Content Services Markets, reveals that revenues in this industry totaled $594.2 million in 2005 and estimates to reach $2.61 billion in 2012 as games, ringtones, MMS, and other premium content services and applications take hold.

With mobile subscribers growing at 15-20%+ annually in the key markets in the region, Latin America represents a high value opportunity for consumer brands and media companies with global reach. The future of content distribution and direct marketing in Latin America will be mobile. In my view, the time to invest in mobile services and applications in the region is now.

The uber Operators in the region are America Movil, Telefonica and a distant TIM. If you are considering entering the region I recommend four target markets, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and Chile. These key markets have under gone maturation in technologies as well as the subscriber base in using them.

If you have more of an interest in the region such as Operator contacts or content distribution opportunities in the region, perhaps we can help. Feel fee to contact me Mario Tapia