What's To Keep People At MySpace? >>
<< Claria Can't Change Its Spots That Easily
 tdicon 
MVNOs Can't Be Launched By A White Paper >>
<< Rival 802.11n Standards Groups To Merge
 | 

Failures

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Aug 2nd 2005 2:23am





Greed Killed The Ringtone Star

from the and-so-it-goes... dept

It's been amusing to hear those in the mobile space and the music space insist that ringtones were the second coming of both music and mobile data, when it seemed pretty clear to many outside observers that it was a huge bubble in the making -- not just because the idea of ringtones could certainly be viewed as a fad, but because those offering up ringtones were doing everything possible to screw up the market. They were increasingly trying to squeeze more and more money out of buyers by jacking up the price of ringtones to a point where people began to question why they were paying three or four times as much to get a snippet of a song that only played when someone called you, as they paid for the whole damn song on iTunes. On top of that, people started to realize that many of the songs they wanted as ringtones were songs they had already bought elsewhere, and it seemed a bit silly to pay for the same song again (especially as it's getting easier to create your own ringtone). However, the final straw was probably the fact that many ringtone aggregators and sellers were most focused on tricking users into signing up for a subscription when they simply meant to download a single ringtone. This nasty practice is leading to calls to regulate the sale of ringtones to avoid such sleazy practices. However, in the short term, with or without regulation, all of these things combined may have popped the ringtone bubble. That isn't to say the ringtone market is dead in any way, but it looks like it's going to start deflating. It does show how the industry has done its best to kill the golden goose as quickly as possible, rather than giving it a chance to keep producing for a while longer. If they were smart, the mobile industry would be working hard to transition this attention on mobile data into some other outlet, but it's unclear if they've got anything that will really sustain much interest just yet.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  •  
    identicon
    VonSkippy, Aug 2nd, 2005 @ 10:12am

    who cares

    Ringtones are for the mentally inept (i.e. dumbasses). It's a phone - if it makes any standard tone what so ever - it's ringing. What more do you need. I wish ALL cell phones had NO ability to make a noise - vibrate (or perhaps a small electric shock) would be soooooo much better.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

    •  
      identicon
      matt, Aug 2nd, 2005 @ 10:37am

      Re: who cares

      a small electric shock? wtf??

       

      [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

    •  
      identicon
      DamnSkippy, Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 8:34am

      Re: who cares

      Ringtones are for the mentally inept (i.e. dumbasses). It's a phone - if it makes any standard tone what so ever - it's ringing. What more do you need.
      There's nothing inherently wrong with the desire to customize your belongings to fit your style. I suppose you are annoyed by modded PC cases, laptops covered in stickers, leather jackets with sharpie artwork on the back? My cell phone has four different "rings", with distinctive ringtone based on caller-id for family, work, girlfriend, and the other girlfriend the first one doesn't know about. This allows me to selectively choose to hit "ignore" (stopping the ringer) and choose NOT to answer the phone depending on who is calling...

      I wish ALL cell phones had NO ability to make a noise - vibrate (or perhaps a small electric shock) would be soooooo much better.
      I'd prefer Caller-ID in a heads up display. Discrete, functional, difficult to miss calls (unless I choose to).

       

      [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
What's To Keep People At MySpace? >>
<< Claria Can't Change Its Spots That Easily
 tdicon 
MVNOs Can't Be Launched By A White Paper >>
<< Rival 802.11n Standards Groups To Merge
 | 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Thursday

2:14am: FTC Planning To Go After Patent Trolls (2)
1:30am: There's No Silver Bullet Strategy For Monetizing Apps, But There Are Lots Of Options To Compare (0)

Wednesday

11:08pm: Germany's Spies Have NSA Envy: Currently Working To Build Their Own Comprehensive Snooping System (8)
8:03pm: Arizona Court Skeptical Of 'Medical Excuse' From Prenda Lawyers (20)
5:00pm: DailyDirt: Air Hockey Robots (3)
4:16pm: More Details Emerge As States' Attorneys General Seek To Hold Back Innovation On The Internet (29)
3:26pm: Supreme Court Says Patent Abuse Can Violate Antitrust Laws (7)
2:32pm: Microsoft Capitulates, Removes Online DRM From Xbox One (85)
1:31pm: The Next Time Someone Says Twitter Is Killing Deep Thinking With Short Quick Messages, Show Them This (40)
12:28pm: Company Claims Patent On Pop-Up Ads, Sues Porn & Travel Companies (29)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This