Whenever his cell phone rings, which is a lot, Delvon Murray, 18, hears "My Boo," the Alicia Keys-Usher duet. Whenever his girlfriend's cell phone rings, she hears "In Love Wit Chu" from hip-hop artist Da Brat.
These days, your cell phone identity goes beyond whether you get free weekend minutes or an expanded nationwide calling plan.
Cell phone ring tones and graphics will ring up nearly $500 million this year.
(Diane Bondareff -- Bloomberg News)
|
|
It's in the model of the phone you choose -- a $602 Motorola V3 that weighs about three ounces, or one of those giveaway phones you get just by signing up? It's in the ringing of your phone, too -- and the good ol' Ring! Ring! Ring! in your cell phone, Murray says, is so two years ago, when your choices in ring tones ranged from "The Star-Spangled Banner" to Beethoven's "Fur Elise."
This is a breakout year for tones, the 20- to 30-second synthesized versions of songs that play when cell phones ring, like an audible caller ID. They've been the rage in Western Europe and Asia, particularly in South Korea and Japan, in the past two years, says IDC, a market research firm based in Framingham, Mass. But the United States, with younger consumers leading the way, is catching on fast.
It's so in vogue that Billboard magazine introduced its Hot Ring Tones list in October, with "Drop It Like It's Hot," "My Boo" and "Lose My Breath" topping this week's chart. IDC estimates that ring tones -- usually a pop or hip-hop song downloaded from Web sites for a fee, from 99 cents to $2.99 -- brought in $316 million this year, up from last year's $98 million.
In a short time, in a public way -- while on Metro, or in line at Starbucks, or inside a movie theater -- ring tones signal who you are. Or who you want people to think you are. It's a special stamp, a personal touch. Are you a Maroon 5 kind of guy? Are you a Shakira kind of gal?
Murray's ring tone is a one-way street -- the other person on the line, after all, can't hear it.
But in the fast-changing world of cell phones, where wireless companies are pushing more and more customization, ring tones are entering a new phase -- and to the industry's delight, it is being greeted by a gotta-have-it consumer.
Next year, Murray might be able to hear a song ("Goodies" by Ciara) or a recorded message ("I'll be right with you, baby") or a classic line from a film ("You had me at hello," from "Jerry Maguire") as he waits for his girlfriend to answer.
First launched in southern Illinois in October and now being test-marketed in southern California, this new feature is the "ringback" -- a specific ring tone that a specific person who's calling your cell phone could hear. It's yet another addition to the increasingly particular way the country's estimated 170 million cell phone subscribers use their phones.
