Crazy Frog inspires $35bn market

The ubiquitous Crazy Frog and its ilk won't be dying out just yet - realtones for mobiles are only just getting going, according to new research.

A new report from Informa Telecoms and Media predicts that by 2010, mobile music will be worth $11.3bn, with nearly $6.8bn worth of realtones - mobile phone ringtones that sound like a real song rather than digitised music - sold by the end of the decade.

Ringtones of all varieties are expected to be worth $4.9bn this year, with almost all ringtones set to become real music by 2010.

According to Jessica Sandin, principal analyst for mobile content and applications at Informa Telecoms and Media, there's a direct link between the popularity of real music ringtones and the number of iPods flying off the shelf.

"Soon there will be more phones capable of playing music out there than iPods," she said. "iPods have helped in terms of consumer experience - getting them used to using and downloading music."

The recording industry's enthusiasm for mobile content will also help the market to boom - the report predicts content will be worth $35.8bn by 2010.

"The recording industry sees [mobile content] as a better bet [than web music sales] - there's better DRM," Sandin said. "The record industry is starting to see mobile as a whole revenue stream."