Insiders said a combination of convenience and tantalizing illicitness keeps iPod, PlayStation Portable and cell phone users coming back to portable porn.

"You get your daily fix," said the founder and director of Chatsworth, Calif.-based Digital Playground, who asked to be identified solely by his industry nickname, Joone. "Technology is adapting to our lifestyle."

Last week, SurfControl, a Scotts Valley, Calif., company specializing in filtering Internet content, warned that Podcasting and PodPorn on iPods and PlayStation Portables pose "a particularly high risk to children."

"Adult content providers are poised to capitalize on this new market," it said, "by developing a raft of adult-content videos aimed squarely at these devices."

Users downloaded as many as 300,000 of Digital Playground's free porn trailers for iPod and PSP in December, the first month of their "Porn On The Go" service. Joone said they are on pace to surpass that this month.

He said the small screens of handheld devices can deliver high-quality images, though some content adjustments must be made.

The PSP has a screen diagonal of 4.3 inches, while cell phones vary at around 1.5 inches.

"You're not going to sit down and watch an hour-and-a-half movie on your phone," Joone said, "But you might watch a two-minute clip."

Steven Hirsch, CEO of Vivid Entertainment Group in Los Angeles, a major adult movie producer, said the company has made four "Vivid mini-movies" for cell phone use only.

He said they use wide-angle lenses to avoid claustrophobic closeups and adjust the sound quality for cell phone speakers.

"We've taken all those things into consideration," he said.

Mr. Hirsch said Vivid expects to sell iPod movies online a la carte within the next two months.

Joone said Digital Playground shoots everything in high definition, then converts the material to different formats. Portable porn scenes tend to last from five to 20 minutes.

"It's not that expensive to go to all these formats," Joone said. "Adult [material] is kind of unique in that you can take a sex scene and it can stand on its own."

Mr. Hirsch said that Vivid has already seen $15-million to $20-million in cell phone content sales in Europe. Five years ago, he said, 95% of the company's income was from video and DVD.

Now it's less than 50%.

"That's as a result of all these new technologies that are out there and growing," he said.

And that may just be the beginning, as most cell phones are still not video compatible and mobile high-speed movie streaming networks are not as ubiquitous in North America as they are in Europe.

Mr. Hirsch said as soon as proper age verification is in place, North American carriers will feel comfortable with adult content.

Ian Aaron, CEO of Waat Media in Sherman Oaks, Calif., said his company is trying to get North American cell phone network carriers to institute Waat's 33-tier ratings system to classify content from around the world ranging from nudity to hard core. Many major carriers, he said, have already done so.

"In the next four or five years," he said, "[this] is going to be considered a multi-billion dollar business."

More ...

Porn, Mobile Phones and iPods

AFP, 11/15/05 - The small screen is heating up with a new wave of racy images and film clips making their way to mobile phones and the new video iPods, raising new questions for telecom companies and regulators.

Films, television shows and images are all making their way to the small screen, and analysts say that undoubtedly opens the door to pornography or other adult-oriented content.

Within days of the launch of Apple's new video iPod, companies were rushing to deliver content ranging from mild to shocking.

"We think the growth of viewing adult content on iPod devices will be explosive in the coming months," said Harvey Kaplan of Xobile.com, which describes itself as "the leading provider of adult movies for mobile phones."

Kaplan told AFP that the mobile phone market remains far larger than that of "portables," which include video iPods, Sony PlayStations and Windows-based portable video devices. But he said both segments are surging.

"We actively sign up about 20,000 new subscribers every month," Kaplan said, adding that three-fourths are from outside the United States.

"We can deliver to any mobile phone anywhere in the world."

In the United States, he said the market has been limited by mobile phone companies that are reluctant to become partners with the porn industry for fear of being stigmatized and by community standards more staid than other parts of the world.

"In the US it's very slow, even for bikini-clad content," Kaplan said, adding that one mobile phone company that offered such an option "raised community outrage."

"Nobody wants to be the first company to allow adult content," he said.

Still, many companies are positioning for a growing market. Playboy struck a deal this year for "iBod" photo galleries for the iPod photo device -- which preceded the video iPod -- and has a deal with Dwango Wireless to offer adult content for mobile phones.

Kaplan said a new rating system adopted this month by the cellular industry -- which could allow parents to block sex-oriented content -- would be a boon to the adult entertainment industry.

The Wireless Association announced guidelines for "generally accessible" and "restricted" content using criteria based on the movie, television, music and games rating systems. This allows carriers to requires parent or guardian permission to access any material inappropriate for subscribers under 18.

The move to create content categories that could allow filters "is fabulous for a company like ours," Kaplan said.

"The chief thing we get accused of is going after children. The bottom line is that kids are the worst customers possible. They don't have credit cards or their cards are stolen. We don't want them to see the content."

The research firm Research and Markets estimated a year ago that the "wireless adult content market" would be worth 90 million dollars in the United States and one billion dollars globally by 2008.

Yankee Group earlier this year estimated the US market for adult content at 192 million dollars by 2009, but said growth would depend on whether wireless carriers take action to protect minors to avert government regulation.

But Jeff Kagan, an independent telecom analyst, said he sees the market moving slowly for erotic programming on mobile phones, even as the carriers start offering other types of films, music and television shows.

"The US carriers have all shied away form anything that would cause trouble or hurt their image," Kagan said.

"They have basically said they are staying out of the porn business. They have no control of what their clients do, but when they hear about it they try to shut it down."

Kagan said the companies "would like access to a whole new revenue stream but it opens up a whole number of issues ... it's a touchy subject."

But Kagan said the issue is different for iPods and similar devices. Since they don't use regulated public networks, there are fewer impediments to customers downloading whatever they choose.

"It's the same effect but there are different rules," Kagan said. "But that's the problem with technology."

More ...

iPods and Mobile Phones are New Platforms for Porn

Washington Post, 11/14/05 - Apple Computer Inc. took 20 days to reach 1 million downloads of video files from its online store; the Web site SuicideGirls, offering free videos of unclothed models, hit the mark in about a week.

One of the quickest industries to take advantage of the new video iPod, and other new gadgets, is one that has often been at the forefront of other technological innovations: porn.

Pornography is spreading from the computer desktop to the small screen, to pocket-sized devices such as cell phones, digital music players and portable game players. The phenomenon is being pushed not only by alternative-culture sites such as SuicideGirls but also by old-school skin traders such as Playboy and Penthouse, which this month announced plans to offer movies for viewing on portable devices.

Almost as quickly, a trade group for wireless carriers has responded with a plan for a rating system, such as that used in the movie industry, to help prevent children from seeing inappropriate content on mobile phones. The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association last week announced that member companies agreeing to the voluntary proposal will not offer adult-oriented images or programming until such a system is in place, though they cannot prevent users from getting material on the Internet.

The sale of adult entertainment for downloading to cell phones is a multimillion-dollar business in Europe already. In Japan, adult film companies released movies to watch on Sony's PlayStation Portable within weeks of the gadget's debut this spring. Though still in its infancy in the United States, the portable porn market could grow to nearly $200 million a year here by 2009, according to Boston-based research firm Yankee Group.

Stock of Playboy Enterprises Inc. rose this month after a Wall Street analyst said the company is headed for an upturn because of its entry into such new media businesses.

Harvey Kaplan, an Internet porn industry veteran, said sales are growing "fast and furious" for his new company, called Xobile, which focuses exclusively on selling porn for cell phones and handheld computers.

"The adult Internet marketplace hit a ceiling about two years back," he said. "I started looking for alternate ways to reach the same market -- this seemed the logical place to go."

The proliferation has caught some off-guard. Parry Aftab, the director of WiredSafety.org, an organization devoted to helping parents keep porn away from their kids online, said the mobilization of digital porn is something even most plugged-in parents generally are not aware of yet.

"Even parents who are watching their kids' computers are clueless that they've put a [cell phone] in their kid's hands that can be used to trade this stuff around," she said. Aftab added that she sees the problem as one that requires parental education, not new laws.

A more fundamental issue might be whether people even want to see adult entertainment on tiny, two-inch video screens?

Ralph Whittington, a former curator at the Library of Congress dubbed "the king of porn" for amassing a carefully catalogued collection of adult magazines, videos and DVDs, said in a phone interview that he does not get the trend.

"I can't see anybody wanting to watch while they're sitting at the airport," Whittington said. "I just don't see how it's going to be all that popular."

Proponents argue that the anonymity and privacy offered by a mobile gadget could be a major selling point.

Sex columnist Regina Lynn, who writes for Wired.com, thinks cell phones and iPods could find a niche among viewers who are reluctant to download X-rated video clips on their desktop or laptop computer's hard drive.

"When I first heard about this, I thought it was a novelty, but I've changed my mind," she said. "I think that the porn industry will probably be pretty quick to figure out what works and sells for mobile devices."

Few mobile devices are hotter than Apple's new iPod, of course, so entrepreneurs are trying especially hard to find a way to associate their products with the phenomenally selling product.

The founders of one explicit site said they bought their "pod"-related domain name the same day Apple Chairman Steve Jobs took the stage in San Jose and introduced the video iPod to the world. The site offers adult films specially made for the device, shot from the point of view of the male actor.

Last week, gay porn media company Lucas Entertainment Inc. announced that it would make trailers for its films available on the iPod. Founder Michael Lucas, who also acts in his company's films, said he sees the move as a key way to build awareness of his company's products in the gay community -- a community that especially prizes the iPod.

"I don't have one gay friend who would not have the new iPod," he said. "Gay people are much more technologically advanced."

A still-open question for the adult entertainment business is whether gadget makers and cell phone carriers will help or stand in the way of their business plans.

Steven Hirsch, chief executive at adult media company Vivid Entertainment Group, said mobile porn has not sparked as a business in the United States yet because carriers have not figured out a reliable way to make sure only adults are able to view explicit content. He said he expects that situation to change in the next year.

"I don't think the carriers see themselves as censors," said Hirsch, whose roster of porn stars includes big names such as Jenna Jameson. "I think they see themselves as content providers. I don't see why they'd be opposed to it."

Hirsch said he has had productive chats on the matter with carriers in the United States, but he declined to identify them.

A spokeswoman for Sprint Nextel Corp. said the carrier does not have plans for any content racier than what is on prime-time television. A spokeswoman for Virgin Mobile USA LLC said the company has no such plans and declined further comment.

Kaplan, the founder of Xobile, said he assumes cell phone companies will not want to associate with the sort of hard-core titles his business offers. But with Web-enabled phones becoming more prevalent, he said, Xobile does not need to cut a deal with a carrier. Videos can go straight to the consumer via the Internet.

ITunes has so far resisted putting SuicideGirls' adult videos on its site, and Apple declined to comment on the topic.

But a non-video Suicide Girls "podcast," or Internet radio show, is regularly one of the most popular downloads on the iTunes site, beating out rival podcasts such as a movie chat show with critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper.

Porn for the iPod

AP, 11/6/05 - Purveyors of porn and entrepreneurs who spied a niche when Apple Computer Inc. unveiled its video-playing iPod are proving that sex even sells in tiny packages — especially when it is portable.

One online social network of amateur pinup girls said it logged 500,000 downloads of the sexy "featurettes" — three- to five-minute video clips — in the first 24 hours targeting the new iPod-toting crowd.

It's a no-brainer: pornography to go.

The naughtiness is already finding its way into video handhelds through business models tried-and-true — along with some new ones — as the adult entertainment industry works to untether video content.

Soon enough, skin flicks whose viewing has been largely restricted to the privacy of homes and theaters could be on view in the open public of parks and mass transit, for all ages to see.

Porn is no doubt a big business on the Web.

Two in five Internet users visited an adult site in August, according to tracking by comScore Media Metrix. The company said 3% of all Web traffic and 2% of all surfing time involved an adult site.

The Internet accounted for $2.5 billion of the adult industry's $14 billion in U.S. revenues last year, about the same as revenues from cable and satellite pay-per-view showings, according to Adult Video News, a trade magazine.

Vivid Entertainment Group, a major adult video producer that already offers high-resolution still images, video clips and footage from "voyeur cams" through its website, now plans to shoot shorter films specifically for the iPod and other portables.

"It could be a huge percentage of our business," says the company's chief executive, Steven Hirsch. "People love watching adult movies and to be able to carry an adult movie in your pocket is a powerful tool."

Sin City, based in Chatsworth, Calif., already offers trailers of full-length adult films for the Sony PlayStation Portable, a handheld video game player. It now plans full-length adult films for the video iPod.

Apple wasn't first on the scene with a small digital device capable of playing good-quality video.

Creative Technology and iRiver are among companies with pocket-sized devices already on the market; they use Windows Mobile software to display video, audio and still images.

In addition, one early entrant, Archos, has a Jukebox that can store and play a whopping 400 hours of video in the MPEG-4 standard.

Yet the very marketing and deal-making finesse that helped Apple rise to dominate the portable music market make its new video-playing iPod a likely vessel for adult movies' expansion to portable porn.

The Apple's iTunes online story already features several hot and heavy podcasts, audio downloads geared to portability. The company isn't offering much in the way of sex on videos, though some of the music videos it sells for $1.99 each can tend toward titillation. Apple officials refused requests for interviews on whether they might offer adult content on iTunes for iPod owners.

For many high-profile companies, sex remains a tough sell.

Although wireless phone companies support devices that play video, they are reluctant to expose themselves to complaints from a large and valuable customer base.

One company that knows firsthand is Digital Orchid, which manages the delivery of streaming video to cellphones for top brands, including MLB.com, NASCAR.com, ESPN and the National Hockey League.

It also handles Hawaiian Tropic, the suntan oil company perhaps better known for its comely bikini models. That sort of content is about as racy as wireless carriers want to get, says Robert Betros, Digital Orchid's co-founder and chief technology officer.

"We won't cross that line because the carriers won't distribute it, and that's a majority of the revenue opportunity for us," Betros said. "Now they may change their tune, and in some places in Europe carriers are distributing this kind of content."

In the wireless industry, carrier-approved content exists within something referred to as a walled garden. In the United States, at least, that garden is generally safe for children.

Once users stroll outside garden walls and inside a Web browser, however, all bets are off.

A company called Xobile sells pornographic video clips for cellphones. No special operating system or other software is necessary: Just a Web browser, which is commonplace now for phones with access to digital data networks.

That it's now easier than ever for minors to view X-rated content on portable devices concerns media watch groups that seek to protect children.

The problem is that children are often quicker to grasp the technology than their parents, says Jack Samad, a senior vice president with the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families.

"The arena is wide open, unfiltered, unrestricted, for adult content," Samad said. "Children are very aware of where it is and how to download it."

Also ...
IPod May Need Porn to Survive

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