Adult mobile content market worth almost $5 billion in 5 years

Last week we were told that mobile betting was a recession-busting industry segment. This week Juniper Research says money spend on adult mobile video chat services will exceed $1 billion by 2011 - and the entire mobile adult content market will be worth £4.9 billion by 2013. Despite global economic conditions, the company says individual users' spending on video chat will be higher than previously forecast. Western Europe is and will remain the largest regional market for mobile adult services, followed by the Far East and China. Juniper Research [Press release]

Amsterdam blames city centre decay on brothels and phone shops

It's not just Amsterdam's well-known brothels and marijuana cafes that are causing problems in the city centre. Council officials plan to close many of the city's brothels and sex shops to reduce organised crime... and they say some phone shops, mini-supermarkets and souvenir shops will also be shut down as they're related to the decay of the city centre. [Source: BBC News]

Ofcom publishes recommendations to protect under-18s from adult material on mobiles

Ofcom has published recommendations for the Mobile Broadband Group to consider when restricting mobile access to adult material for anyone who could not prove they were over 18. The regulator says the current Mobile Broadband Group UK Code of Practice works well, although it pointed out that only 15% of adults who used a mobile and who had a child in their household were aware of the current age verification systems. [Ofcom review; MBG pdf document]

Adult Mobile Video Chat services expected to grow dramatically

Adult Video Chat Services on mobile phones are expected to make $1.5 billion worldwide by 2012, according to a report from Juniper Research. The company says that adoption levels are currently low but that the average monthly spend is up to 20 times higher than for other adult services. They estimate that 33% of all money from adult services will come from video chat by 2012, compared with 8% in 2007. [Sources: Telecoms.com, Juniper Research]

Mobile adult market worth $3.5 billion in 3 years' time

A new study from Juniper Research says the market for adult material on mobile phones is expected to double to around $3.3 billion (£1.5 billion) by the end of 2010. 39% of the money is expected to come from Europe, with 70% of revenue coming from video.