Category Archives: Ringback tone
Vectone casualty in UK’s Maggie Thatcher spat
Rating: Independent ringback tone service from Vectone has gone missing
GoMo News has become absolutely fascinated by the UK’s mobile industry’s complete failure to pick up on the opportunities created by the death of the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Emotions are running high here in Blighty [the UK], especially given the fact that tomorrow’s [April 17th 2013] State Funeral for Maggie threatens to create as much civil unrest as the original protests against her ‘Poll tax’. Stepping into the void created by the UK’s mobile content Kings, GoMo News took the trouble to outline how people could create a Maggie ringtone here. Now we’ve discovered that it isn’t possible to have a Maggie related ringback tone. Continue reading
No #2 Witch is Dead; No #35 I Love Maggie
Rating: Political protests go over UK mobile industry’s head
You didn’t have to been some kind of wizard (of Oz) to predict which musical number could have reached Number One in today’s [April 14th 2012's] Official UK Singles Chart. Actually Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead from the OZ movie and officially credited to Judy Garland reached Number Two. But what shocked us here @ GoMo News Towers was what we discerned as a complete lack of reaction to this phenomenon from the UK’s mobile industry. We strongly suspect that most of the purchasers will have been youngsters who view online and the digital media in particular as a way to express themselves. Continue reading
Ring back tones and being dumped
Rating: & we explain how to do it via Ringback Tone (RBT)
Reputedly nearly one in ten people have been dumped by text/SMS. Let’s assume that’s in the UK because it is taken from a survey of 2,000 people conducted by the mobile phone website Recombu.com. It found that around nine per cent of people have been told their relationship is over via an SMS to their mobile phone. The most famous example of this ploy is apparently Friends actress, Jennifer Aniston who was reportedly sent a text by boyfriend John Mayer that said – “That’s it – the end” back in 2008. This story reminds us of our own recent item about dumping your partner by ringback tone (RBT). It’s possible to do so via an app on Muzicall’s Facebook page. But the company still isn’t advertising the fact on its Ringtagz site. Continue reading
Muzicall makes headlines in UK’s Sun newspaper
Rating: We’re not sure the story is entirely true, of course
There’s nothing better to generate a bit of publicity for your mobile service than getting a story into the UK’s best selling daily newspaper – The Sun. GoMo News couldn’t find this story online so we’ll have to tell you what was printed on page 31 (there’s a 1 after that 3) today [January 12th 2011]. Under the headline – ‘Dumped by – tone’, the article had this sentence … “The Ringtagz service lets users record individual messages that only selected callers can hear.” Um you can’t do that right now because we have just checked. Rivals can do so, however. Still, it has least put the idea of ringback tones (RBTs) into the Great British public’s consciousness. Continue reading
Mobile music vendors need to realign their pricing models
Why does 20 seconds cost more than the full track?
Researching mobile music downloads for a completely different story, it struck GoMo News that music content owners may just have adopted a completely inappropriate business model when it comes to attacking the mobile market. The prime example here is ringtones where the asking price for a typical chart ringtone is £2. Compare that to a regular MP3 music download which costs between 89 pence and £1.69. The music industry evens assigns mobile MP3 purchasers unlimited access to their content via their PC, dedicated music player or even more smartphones. That’s sufficient financial incentive to entice consumers to master the not-so-dark arts of creating a decent ringtone from the full track version. GoMo News would humbly suggest that music content owners look carefully at how they bundle their content. Continue reading
Anybody got a ringback tone platform for Africa?
Rating: Reader asks GoMo News for advice
It’s one of those strange requests from a reader which you’re not quite sure how to deal with. He contacted us to say that he is working for a VAS (value Added Services) company which has a client in an African republic. The client is looking for a new mobile market and has hit on the idea of offering ringback tones. This company is obviously a fairly large African mobile operator with six million subscribers. What our reader needs to do is to identify a company with a ringback tone platform which is interested in a revenue sharing arrangement. Luckily, judging from the email address the reader isn’t in Nigeria, so this doesn’t seem to be a bizarre scam. Although you can never be sure. Continue reading
ECT advocates carrier announce as RBT solution
Rating: Daft idea or practical answer
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that ring back tones (RBTs) aren’t taking off in Western Europe and North America as many had expected. One of the obvious reasons is that the general public don’t understand them. In a recent posting on the ECT Telecoms ringback blog here, Victor del Razo tries to come up with some answers. He suggests that ‘carrier greeting’ or ‘carrier announce’ might be one solution. One facility that his company can provide to mobile network operators, of course. But is this a practical solution or will it just make it even more confusing for the average consumer? Continue reading
Some of our advertising is missing, Muzicall admits
Rating: It took taken longer than expected to get this project moving
In response to our story ‘ Why Xipto’s ringback tone advertising isn’t working’ here, GoMo News was delighted to get a reaction from Muzicall’s CEO, Patrick Allainguillaume, that this was indeed the case. “Related to Xipto, RBT Advertising is not yet launched in the UK,” he told GoMo News. Significantly, he added that, “While the operators are interested in launching the service, it has taken longer than expected to get this project moving.” Oh, dear. We wonder if Juniper Research even knows about this and has downgraded its forecasts for predicted RBT advertising revenues, accordingly? Continue reading
Why Xipto’s ringback tone advertising isn’t working
Rating: Some-one forgot to test it in UK
Back in January [2011], Patrick Allainguillaume, CEO with Muzicall, roundly declared that, “Ringback Tone [RBT] Advertising represents one of the largest untapped media inventories for advertisers today.” This followed a prediction just days earlier from Juniper Research that, “Ringback Tone advertising [will] hit $780 million annually by 2015 as consumers chase free airtime.” To tap into this lucrative niche, Muzicall announced a tie up with New York based Xipto. Together they launched Ringtagz Advertising with the aim of enabling businesses “To find, engage, and reward people who are willing to share specific messages with their friends.” Well, somebody hasn’t done their homework properly because it is impossible to sign-up for the service via the Xipto site in the UK. Continue reading
How the UK’s only rock promo ringback tone escaped into wild
Rating: GoMo News finally solves the mystery
GoMo News has always agreed with Cool Tones from Cooltonesblog that in the UK there’s an enormous gap in the market for ringback tones (RBTs). As he says here,”One of the most obvious uses for a ringback tone which we’ve identified is to promote an unsigned (rock) band. Our research has shown that at least one UK act – Craig Custance Starman – did this very thing back in April 2010.” Sadly the trail went cold there and GoMo News was unable to discover how on Earth Starman had managed to produce its ringback tone. Until last night! GoMo News can exclusively reveal that it was actually an inside job. Continue reading
Orange UK actually promotes Summer ringback tones
Rating: Offers subscribers the chance to win £500
In the UK, marketing and promotions for ringback tones (RBTs) have been pretty thin on the ground. Orange UK does at least have a viral video promo for its RingTagz RBT service using a dancing sock. The Bhangra version is the best example, of course. Now – timed to co-incide with most Brits holidays, the UK operator is running a competition to ‘win £500 holiday cash with RingTagz‘. To enter the competition, subscribers have to pick one of 14 Summer-themed ringback tones. The trick is that in order to play this ringback tune to callers, orange subscribers will actually have to sign up for the RingTagz service. Continue reading
T-Mobile officially rebrands Caller Tunes to Ringtagz
Ratings: Muzicall now offers ringback tones to 3 UK networks
In the UK, T-Mobile has just announced to its existing Caller Tunes customers that the service will from now on be known as RingTagz. This means that Muzicall is now supplying its ringback tone (RBT) service to three of the Top Six UK operators: – T-Mobile; Virgin; and Orange. Despite the fact that in Asian markets RBTs are a major source of operator revenue, in most of Europe and North America they have failed to take off. Mainly because consumers have no idea what a ringback tone is, and operators have yet to promote them heavily. See GoMo News‘ earlier story here. Continue reading
Adfortel launches mobile advertising service with Yesss!
Adfortel and Orange Austria’s low cost mobile operator brand Yesss!,launch a new and unique advertising service of which new and existing subscribers can benefit from by listening to short radio-like audio commercials (VoiceAds) and select their own favorite call waiting music (TuneAds). The service is marketed with a new tariff named Yesss Laudaah!and is a unique combination of Adfortel’s two services: VoiceAds and TuneAds. Continue reading
Nigeria shows how RingBack tones can prove popular
Rating: Callertunez otherwise known as ringtags, ringtagz, calling tones or calling tunes
Working In London, it’s easy to be Euro-centric so it made a pleasant change to chance upon a Nigerian web site operated by MTN. This site is offering its local customers what it describes as Callertunez – although it does also utilise the industry jargon term ‘RingBack Tones’. The MTN site is both vibrant and enticing and a far flung prospect from sites in Europe which attempt to market Ringback tones to European consumers. It also illustrates the point which GoMo News has been labouring – namely that European providers are overpricing their RingBack offerings. A Nigerian RingBack tone costs about 46 pence compared to £1.50 in the UK Continue reading
Video ringtone specialist, Vringo, lands Orange UK
Rating: Maybe now this niche mobile content will take off
Video ringtone specialist, Vringo, is painting its partnership with Orange UK as marking its first European launch with a major carrier. Actually the company previously landed a deal with Avea – a Turkish operator [which is in Europe] back in 2008. It claimed then that 50 per cent of ringtone revenues would come from video ringtones by 2010. Maybe this time it will get the necessary breakthrough. Continue reading
