More Evidence That Mobile Porn Isn't That Titillating

from the tiny-naked-people dept

While some have hyped up the potential for mobile porn, it's never really made that much sense. Mobile operators have a love-hate affair with the concept of mobile porn. They think it's going to be huge, but don't want to get into trouble. Since many of them run walled gardens where they control the gates to all content, they have some responsibility concerning what people can access. However, their filters haven't worked and some are struggling over how to deal with the issue. Of course, the simple answer may be that it won't be much of an issue at all. A quick look at the numbers suggests that, if anything, mobile porn is likely to be a pretty small market. While the "mobile adult content is the killer app" crowd point to how pornographers drove videotape and internet adoption forward, there's a big missing element. Both of those drove the technologies forward because they made it easier to view porn in the privacy of your own home -- and on a large clear screen. Mobile porn is the opposite. It makes it easier to see porn when you're on the go in public -- and on a tiny screen with poor resolution. Perhaps we're underestimating the world's need to watch porn in public places (though, I hope not), but it's difficult to see how it could be all that compelling beyond a small market. That's not to say there's no market, but it's unlikely to be this huge success that some seem to expect.