The Buzz on Ringtones - February 2009
After cleverly (and successfully) employing technology during his US Presidential election campaign, it is probably rather apt that President Barack Obama ended up becoming part of it.
The new President had scarcely been sworn in before a Boston company began selling highlights from his inaugural address… as ringtones and multimedia greeting cards.
Skycore LLC, in conjunction with Ringmyname.com, have decided to cash in on the feverish Obamania sweeping the United States. So they created a website called ObamaRingers.com, where fans and supporters of the new Commander-in-Chief can pay $1.99 to have their phones chime such nuggets as “The time has come”, “Challenges we face” or “Pick ourselves up”.
We wonder if the President himself will purchase one for his BlackBerry? After all, the fight he had to conduct to keep that smart phone with him during his presidency was, since it posed such a security nightmare, almost more difficult to win than the election itself! But he succeeded, and BlackBerry One, as it has since been dubbed by the media, can continue to occupy the White House with him.
It is actually not so far-fetched to wonder if President Obama would purchase a ringtone for the ‘first phone’. According to a 2008 study conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, a marketing research company, approximately one-third of all mobile phone users download ringtones, and about 40% of users frequently change their ringtones.
The company’s research shows that ringtones are the most common type of mobile music content downloaded by users.
But, as a CNN report recently pointed out, customising a phone with multiple ringtones can be expensive. Depending on the cellular network or service plans, ringtones can cost anywhere from US $0.99 to $2.99. But apparently this technicality isn’t deterring cellphone users. Analysts at Screen Digest, a UK-based firm covering global media markets, predict that mobile music sales will double from $1.6 billion in 2008 to $3.2 billion in 2012.
However, for folks who find themselves to be a bit more cash-strapped than usual during this current global recession, there are plenty of free ways to get ringtones. One includes the ringtone creator application on Facebook (which is merely one of many ringtone applications on the social networking website). That particular application is a fun way for people to select snippets of audio and edit it to their liking.
Whether other people will like it when it ends up as a ringtone on the creator’s cellphone – well, that remains to be seen or heard, doesn’t it?