Just like the beginnings of the wired Internet, content on the wireless Internet is growing by leaps and bounds. Wireless Internet users now can schedule a flight out of Denver, challenge a stranger to a game of chess, check their stocks and access all kinds of other useful and not-so-useful sites.
So it’s not really surprising that-just like wired Internet users-wireless Internet surfers can also now look at pictures of naked women or place a bet on the next big game.
“It’s not like something like this is in the future,” said Alan Reiter, president of the Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing consulting firm. “This is a continuation of a business that is booming already.”
The online pornography industry, and to a lesser extent online gambling, have been at the forefront of the digital revolution, jumping into the wired Internet in the early part of the 1990s. That technological prowess has now extended to the wireless Internet, which today features a surprising range of pornographic and gambling destinations.
As such, Reiter warns that industry must address how it plans to deal with “vice” sites.
“Pornography over the wired Internet could already be in the billions” of dollars, he said. “Companies are looking at new business models, and sex has been selling since the pyramids.”
Personal digital assistant users-working on both the Palm and Pocket PC operating system-can today download adult pictures and stories from a variety of sites, most of which make some kind of pun on the word “palm.” According to wireless pornography site SinPalm, 19,317 users have visited the SinPalm subscription channel on AvantGo Inc.’s wireless Internet service, which is one of the largest wireless Internet services in the country. Penthouse.com offers pornographic text, video and pictures to mobile users. Even people who own a mobile phone can squeeze a short erotic story or some lurid graphics on their tiny screen, if they have the patience to download it.
As for gambling, a range of wireless sites are popping up to let gamblers bet from their mobile phones. Intertops.com gives PDA and mobile phone users the odds on a variety of “major international sporting events and unique pop culture happenings,” the company said.
And, in Hong Kong, gamblers have been placing bets using their mobile phones for years.
“Lots of adult businesses are looking at how to take their businesses wireless,” Reiter said. “Right now, it’s still at the early stages.”
However, as the wireless industry continues to grow, device screens will get bigger and better, transmission technology will speed up, and new technologies-such as streaming media-could come into play, all of which will help foster the wireless adult entertainment industry.
“The trend is toward color and multimedia phones,” Reiter said. “Wireless devices are only going to provide better experiences to people looking for pornography.”
And as this move grows, more and more wireless companies will be forced to deal with the situation. Carriers will have to decide how they want to deal with pornographic sites, platform vendors will have the option of doing business with a gambling site, and the rest of the industry will eventually be forced to confront the situation.
“It’s happening anyway, isn’t it better to start talking about it now?” Reiter asked. “It behooves the wireless industry to start thinking about this.”
Along these lines, Reiter has held industry forums to discuss vice issues. This way, he said, industry can come to a consensus on the subject before a member of Congress decides to call it to the public’s attention and possibly put constraints on the growth of the wireless Internet.
“It’s not a major problem now, but smart companies plan for problems before they become disasters,” Reiter said.
