The main purpose of a ringtone is to alert the phone owner that there is an incoming call or a massage. However, ringtones have become more than just an alert these days. In fact most people try to get noticed through their ringtones. It is assumed that the ringtones on your mobile phone are able to identify you more than anything else and are able to show what you are and what your social status is. The melody can also identify the quality and sophistication of your cell phone. These days, everyone is trying to be one step ahead of others in having a unique melody.
This is a reason why mobile phone ringtones are getting popular day by day. There are a lot of people who prefer changing their ringtones every week or more often. The trend of personalization of ringtones became even more popular as varieties of melodies started to become available over the web. Downloading free ringtones from different websites has become a huge online business.
As of now, it is not always feasible to download real tones and voice tones to many models of mobile phone handsets. Most models have the power to download polyphonic ring tones ; the specialized capabilities required for playing the more sophisticated versions are limited to only a few of the handsets. This makes polyphonic ring tones widely used and more popular among mobile phone users, across different parts of the globe.
Since the market for ringtones is growing, many companies have joined in the race to stake a claim to a piece of this cake. Tones are of great importance as it comes out at a major source of income to companies who are in the business of selling these tones.
Mobile phone ringtones popularity can also be ascribed to the need for increasing product differentiation with the growing mass acceptance of mobile phones. Manufacturers release handsets with ‘new’ and ‘unique’ features into the markets every few months. And price is not a very strong differentiator anymore, as they are no longer in a position to dictate the cost of bundling new features.
Music companies also get income in the form of royalties for selling tunes to mobile phone companies. It is estimated that the yearly income generated by the ring tone market is some two to three times more than that of the average sales of Nokia, one of the leaders in cell phone industry. This speaks about the popularity of ring tones as an accessory to the common man and as an income generator to millions of others. The demand is still growing in leaps and bounds.
We know that leading music companies have formed partnerships with service providers to sell their music and recordings directly to customers. This field has become a goldmine for telecom operators too.
