(11 March 2008 7:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Music applications are the fastest growing services on mobiles today, a report from TNS Global Technology has found.

The TNS Global Telecoms Insight study, which interviewed 16,000 respondents across 29 countries, found in the last year that the use of MP3 players on mobile phones has risen by 78 per cent and the use of radio via mobile by 140 per cent.

Growth has occurred in every region with particularly rapid adoption seen in Latin America and in emerging Asia, where 45 per cent of users list FM/AM radio as one of their top-three choices for purchasing a mobile phone - making it a more popular application than SMS (texting), internet access or even a camera.

TNS's Global Technology Sector MD Matthew Frogatt said, "Radio-enabled mobiles take away the need to have a separate music device like an MP3 player and should lead phone manufacturers to win the battle for control of the earphones. The increased use of radio in the Asian markets is also extremely important. It is driving a whole new wave of customers to service providers and has massive implications for spreading media communications out to a wider audience more quickly. "

"The radio is a hugely underrated media tool which has suffered at the hands of TV music channels and the internet - this new outlet through mobile phones may help to sustain its life well into this millennium. In some markets, like India, launching a mobile phone without radio-listening capabilities is a major barrier to winning consumer sales," added Frogatt.

Two thirds of young people aged 16 - 21 now listen to some form of mobile music on the go, but it is also surprisingly popular with more senior generations: The study shows that 20 per cent of people aged 51 - 60 tune in to music on their handsets. Globally, 43 per cent of all mobile users and 73 per cent of Smartphone users now listen to some form of mobile music.

TNS India VP technology Parijat Chakraborty said, "Demographic diversity, coupled with differences in culture and taste, has made India an ideal breeding and testing ground for many mobile value added services. Though Indian is quite behind in terms of contribution of VAS in overall revenue, the country is much ahead of many developed countries in terms of variety of VAS for consumers.
Naturally, music loving Indians finds it a winning deal to have their mobile handset doubling up as centre of entertainment on the move."

However, the music industry needs to be cautious of seeing this as a money-spinner: 22 per cent of global users now sideload music (transfer from PC or laptop) compared to just 16 per cent who download directly. Many consumers already have their music libraries in a digital format and are often put off downloading directly to their mobile because of high price perceptions.

Using the phone as a music player gives device manufacturers an opportunity to increase consumer involvement with their products, but for network operators and music rights owners, incremental revenue growth through downloading may be limited, stated a TNS report.

Froggatt concluded, "For the networks, enhanced real-time data services, like mobile internet or location-specific information may be a better bet to increase consumer spend."