Spice up your cell phone with adult content!

The decision of Apple to sell their first adult application 'Hottest Girls' featuring scantily clad models has drawn attention to mobile porn. There's a lot of buzz surrounding its revenue potential in the U.S. market. If people often purchase games and ringtones for their cell phones, why not offer them to purchase mobile adult content and services? However, there are numerous age-verification, political, and religious challenges that have become a barrier to the American mobile market.

Porn on the go

Adult entertainment companies have always been in the forefront of adopting innovative media technologies - from VHS to DVD, from the Internet to live cams. The development of new mobile telecommunications has led to the creation of new industry - mobile porn (also called cellphone porn, cell porn and iPhone porn).  

The driving factor of mobile porn is the growing popularity of smartphones and 3G mobile data connections that allow rapid video streaming and downloads. According to the statistics, since the release of the Apple iPhone in the 2007 the search term "iPhone Porn" has skyrocketed in popularity.

Nowadays there are over 50 million smartphones, including iPhone as well as devices from BlackBerry, LG and Samsung among others. Their functionality has enabled consumers to search and access high-quality adult content and services. Plus, some erotic content can be also obtained via WAP for cell phones with fewer features. 

There is one main reason why people purchase mobile porn. Cell phones can be compared with wireless internet – you can take them everywhere you go. Do you want to secretly watch porn in the toilet at work? Hotel room? Local bar? While some cell phones have relatively small screen, they are quite adequate for this task. 

Mobile porn market barriers 

Mobile providers know that sex sells. Of course, they want to grab a share of the 'adult services' market. At the same time, they are aware of the anxiety of religious groups and parents who may decide that they help people buy porn. The harm to basically become a porn merchant is not worth the increase in revenue. So mobile providers refuse to work with xxx content and thus limit the options for numerous cell phone users.

It is a well known fact that the majority of people who actively purchase mobile content and use cell phone applications is younger generation. Minors often consider cell phones as a part of their body! It can be a difficult task to protect them from sharing and downloading mobile porn due to a weak age-verification technology and protocols. 

U.S. mobile providers could face serious legal hurdles if an underage views sexually explicit or other offensive content unintentionally. They will be fined for not taking adequate steps to prevent such a situation arising. 

On the contrary, older users who typically buy porn online tend to use their cell phones just to talk or sometimes set the alarm to wake up in the morning. They prefer looking for necessary information on the Internet rather than using mobile services. 

Another issue hampering the growth of U.S. mobile porn market is that mobile providers don’t want porn purchases to appear on their customers’ monthly billing statements. They fear that doing so would negatively impact their brand. 

For example, one of the largest Canadian phone companies Telus Corp. withdrew a mobile porn service after numerous complaints from hundreds of customers and criticism from the Catholic Church.

Apple 'Hottest Girls'

The third version of the iPhone's operating software includes parental controls - you can decide what music, videos, and apps your kids can access. Many experts believe that this feature will expedite the growth of mobile porn in the U.S.

These expectations nearly became reality last week. On June 25th, Apple tried to spice up their iPhones by selling a nude application 'Hottest Girls' promising “2200+ sexy bikini babes and lingerie models.” The app was so popular that the developer had to put a stop on the sale due to the strain on their servers.

However, all good things come to an end. There is no way to purchase 'Hottest Girls' app anymore - it was pulled down a day later. The company revealed that the developer of Hottest Girls added inappropriate content after the app had been approved and distributed. It was a violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. 

Of course, this decision doesn’t mean the end of iPhone porn. Consumer can still use two iPhone apps to get pornography they want. The first is Safari, which allows users to browse porn websites. The other is iTunes, which allows users to watch any video converted to mp4, including pornography.

Mobile porn market

U.S. mobile porn market is quite limited. The majority of sites offer both free and subscription-based services. There are also sites specifically geared towards iPhone – they can’t be viewed by non-mobile browsers. 

Here are price ranges for mobile adult content:
•    http://mobile.naughtyamerica.com. Naughty America offers its members the ability to browse all of the Naughty America sites and watch thousands of full length videos on iPhone or iPod Touch. 3-day membership costs $1.95, 7-day membership - $4.95, monthly membership - $24.95. 
•    http://mobile.pornhub.com. Porn Hub offers adult videos for iPhone. There is free and paid membership. One day trial is $1, premium access is $29.95 per month, 12-month access is $ 89.95. 
•    http://ipinkvisual.com. iPinkVisual offers hundreds of streaming hardcore video clips and trailers from Pink Visual. You can porn up your iPod with new video clips for $18.95 per month or $37.95 for 3 months. There is also an opportunity to purchase one day trial for $0.95.
•    http://www.imalespectrumpass.com. iMale Spectrum Pass features hundreds of gay porn videos formatted in MP4 to be delivered to your iPhone and other internet capable cell phones or iPod touch over Wi-Fi. It will cost you $0.95 for one day trial, $19.95 per month and $39.95 per 3 months.
•    http://sexmoviesonthego.com. Sex Movies On The Go offers access to awesome videos featuring hot porn models. A three day trial is $3.95; a seven day trial is $8.95. If you want to subscribe, you will need to pay $33.95 per month or $ 59.95 per 90 days. 

Adult entertainment has taken many forms - from Playboy magazines to DVDs with Jenna Jameson, from home theaters with gorgeous widescreen displays to cell phones and iPods. Mobile porn in U.S. has enormous potential in theory but unlike the more sexually liberated European market, it’s heavily regulated and expensive. 
Like with online porn, if delivery, billing, and technical issues will be overcome, the U.S. has all chances to become the world's largest mobile porn market (although some people may not like it at all).