CELLPHONES AND SEX... OF COURSE

HatTip to Moonsuk. Everyone knows porn was a driver of technology and adoption for the VCR and DVDs. It was just a matter of time before the wireless carriers gave into the potential revenue streams of porn-related content services. The NY Times has a piece on this:

The cellphone, which already plays music, sends and receives e-mail and takes pictures, is adding a steamier offering: pornography.

With the advent of advanced cellular networks that deliver full-motion video from the Internet - and the latest wave of phones featuring larger screens with bright color - the pornography industry is eyeing the cellphone, like the videocassette recorder before it, as a lucrative new vehicle for distribution.

In recent months, that prospect has produced a cadre of entrepreneurs in the United States hoping to follow the lead of counterparts in Europe, where consumers already spend tens of millions of dollars a year on phone-based pornography.

The major American cellular carriers have so far been adamant in their refusal to sell pornography from the same content menus on which they sell ring tones and video games. But there are signs that they may soften their stance. (full article)