MEF Offers 2010 Mobile Media Trend Predictions

The mobile industry 'has weathered the storm remarkably well,' according to MEF’s quarterly Business Confidence Index, which reportedly showed the global mobile media industry has predicted growth of 33 percent in the next year.

 

But wait, it gets better: 'MEF (News - Alert) believes that the industry has the potential to beat this projection,' company officials said.

 

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (News - Alert) was formed in 2000 to represent companies throughout the entire mobile entertainment value chain as a global trade association.

'This time last year,' MEF officials said, they 'predicted that mobile applications would emerge as a content category in their own right and with more than 24 application stores now launched and several billion apps downloaded this has clearly been realized.'

 

Company officials said they also predicted the proliferation of touch screen devices would drive discoverability and content usage, remarking that this 'is self-evident with seemingly every OEM producing a touch-screen device and strong consumer demand for the interactive functionality this interface provides.'

MEF's forecast of top trends in mobile media for 2010 include:

* Fragmentation and variance amongst handsets and now application stores will continue to plague the industry, however the growth of applications on the Android (News - Alert) platform will close the gap on Apple's App Store.

* Operator enabling services will start to be widely deployed, facilitating the growth of rich media content that is simpler, faster and offers a better user experience.

* Media publishers will start to experiment with micro-payments, subscription service models and alternative payment methods which challenge the operators' dominance, with Rupert Murdoch's decision to charge for online media content highlighting an already fierce debate.

 

* Books will emerge as a new and popular content category for smartphones.

Complexity, confusion and ambiguity in the application of rights to the mobile platform will be addressed seriously in 2010.

On Nov. 17 MEF launched the Mobile Entertainment Forum - Latin America, based in Brazil.

 

In October, Mobile Entertainment Forum Americas participated at CTIA (News - Alert) in San Diego, and brought together a panel of its members to generate dialogue, share ideas and debate the economics of mobile business. MEF hosted a special partner panel session entitled, 'Revealing Current Market Forces and Future Content Distribution Models.'