Two deepthroats - one a mobile
expert, the other a porn pundit - spoke candidly to us and put some bets
down on porn as a mobile performer...
If your definition of a
killer app is moving an old-as-the-hills activity onto a new medium that
will always attract, in equal amounts, huge hype, lots of customers -
accompanied by heavy breathing and controversy - then you're on
the money if you're betting on mobile porn.
But, as new as
porn is to mobile, this performer, no matter how you dress it, is
relatively ancient. Porn probably qualifies, these days, as old money;
it is a truly, old enterprise. For a range of applications touted by
some as "killer apps" - and by implication, thus fresh and new
- already, around the world, mobile porn, notably, is already often
swimming in the same choppy waters porn seems always destined to swim
in.
Notably, porn is usually not a peaceful low-profile
hassle-free ride for its purveyors: and that's the way they say
they like it, until they've had enough of the industry. We found
that professional media people who have worked in the hardcore sleaze
business, who we called on for expert opinions, tend to prefer not to
have their names associated with the sector once they have left for
other pastures.
Leaving the days of content production behind
that entail chores like taking home at the end of the working day
pornographic videos to preview and often being in the public spotlight
as their work is always a "hot story" for other media - they
prefer anonymity. Likewise, mobile consultants who confirm they are
discussing this topic a lot, feel the same way about their
privacy.
Interestingly, not just a few of the high visibility
early mobile porn successes - erotic text tales and puzzling grainy
"SMS porn" (those are breasts?) - are the entrepreneurial
projects of college students, who love all the publicity. It's
really a very old tradition too, for college students with
entrepreneurial savvy to make a quick pay-to-run-my-car buck from
"adults-only" style activities: such as second hand porn mag
trading or sharp poker playing amongst their
friends.
Hot mobile
topic
Still, while porn is old hat, it is,
undoubtedly, a hot - but not necessarily cool - topic right now in the
mobile world.
A mobile expert, a consultant who works
extensively internationally, says that mobile porn was the subject of
much discussion recently in London. He laughs: "Do I sound like an
expert on this? I probably do because it's something I am finding
people want to talk a lot about and analyze at the moment in
mobile." Deepthroat One reckons mobile porn will be a bit of a
flyer to get 3G rocking and rolling: and will help to spark it out of
the starting gates.
"Yes, people are debating it as one of
the big things: especially for 3G. My gut instinct is that we will see a
lot of porn and sex industry entrepreneurs using 3G." Recently he
test-drove 3G functionality - a ride he loved - and says,
experientially, 3G is "ideally suited to these types of enterprises
- it's built for sex. That's clear to see.
"The
high quality video CU-CME type capabilities of 3G will be harnessed
efficiently by the porn and adult industries, no doubt. Strip-show, peep
show type efforts, and the like, will quickly see potential. It will all
be very interesting, because, unlike fixed Internet porn, mobile is
personalized and an identifiable channel. Business users, who will be
first off with 3G, will think twice before using a work 3G channel for
porn. Already, of course, people are making money out of mobile porn
services: primarily picture messaging, screensavers and adult phone
lines. Though in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere there's been
controversy around phone sex lines and legislation around caller IDs of
customers - so that business has some deep
water."
Expensive heavy
breathing
Furthermore, Deepthroat One envisages
that the combination of payment mechanisms and a high price for porn on
3G is going to act as a form censorship. The combo of high prices and
stringent digital certification methodologies will help to keep
adults-only areas secure. Unlike with fixed Internet, porn experiences
will not come cheap or free on mobile: especially on 3G. Customers will
really feel mobile porn where it counts - in their
pockets.
"While 3G may look built for sex: these
experiences will come at a high price, people are going to have to pay
for them. I am positive adult service consumers will be more discerning
than they are now with Internet porn: they will want to see previews of
what they're getting and so on. After all, even now sex phone lines
on mobile are costly: each heavy breath and 'my sweetie, my
love' could just as well as come with a cash register trilling in
the background."
Indeed, hitting the headlines recently was
a man in Germany tried to sue his cellular service provider, when he
decided he would not pay for an enormous phone bill he'd run up
with sex lines. The court reportedly threw the case out of court, saying
in a statement that it was a contradiction to "make expensive,
immoral phone sex calls first and then refuse to pay the
bill."
Digital certificates and PINs as
censorship?
Deepthroat One sees the future like
this: "Consumers will acquire digital certificates: and will hold
pin numbers for access. It will be the responsibility of these consumers
to keep them away children. Moreover, a solid vetting process would go
along with payment procedures: an effective mechanism for keeping
under-agers away from mobile porn. Though, undoubtedly too, we will see
some new laws, depending on the society or country, in response to porn
operators moving onto mobile - ranging from outright banning to control
mechanisms - that's inevitable too. New laws are coming out around
new media almost every other day."
While operators'
laws, in some countries, definitely exclude pornographic activities on
their networks, he says that he reckons porn purveyors will initially
find ways around regulations. "3G is still new enough for people to
find loopholes and bend the rules. I have no doubt they will find ways
to do this before new legislation is debated and introduced. 3G is a
very, very powerful channel to experience - and people whose businesses
are suited to it, no matter what those might be, are going to want to be
part of it. Once entrepreneurs experience 3G, I can guarantee you their
minds will be working overtime."
A porn
deepthroat: Not much room left in the industry
A
porn pundit of some ten years, who has worked internationally for one of
the porn empires, has some different perspectives. He offers these to
the great mobile porn debate. Deepthroat Two - who chooses to remain
anonymous (as people often tend and need to do once they opt out of the
industry) - has international experience in the porn business at a high
editorial level. His gut reaction to mobile porn as a long-term
high-profit performer is not exactly
oh-wow-let-me-get-back-into-the-business. But then, bare in mind, he has
not experienced the future of 3G. He calls it as he sees it
now.
Deepthroat Two reckons that porn has had its day, in many
ways. "Porn had a great run in the 80s. That was its heyday. Thanks
in large part to Internet porn, there's not too much room left -
and there's probably too much of it around now. It's quite
done."
Also, Deepthroat Two feels that porn is one of the
most parameter-bound and law-attracting zones around. "The
reality is that there are many, many parameters in porn today - from
without and within, self-imposed and externally-imposed. You have to
navigate these every day. For me, being in it for a long time, I guess
like any industry, it also just gets boring after a while. Creatively, I
enjoyed the industry's light-hearted and edgy feel - and also
enjoyed it that it was a place from where you could stir up some
trouble. The industry was honest, up-front, entertaining and good for
some laughs."
"Mobile porn: my gut reaction is that it
is a non-goer. Of course, though, I could be wrong. As a novelty
concept, yes - but I wouldn't put the house on it. The glossy, big,
graphic color visuals are a huge part of the attraction of the porn
experience: can't get that onto your mobile phone now. Visuals are
very important to the audiences. Erotic stories on mobile? Nope, those
are neither here nor there, as far as significant profits
go.
"Also, for audiences, porn is a private experience that
is of long time duration, typically - this seems, to me, very different
to the way we use mobile technology right
now?"
Carol Posthumus is a freelance
author, analyzing how mobile technology impacts our lives. She lives in
Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.