Mobile Phones

Mobile phones were introduced in Japan in 1979 but became a mass media only in 1998 when the first downloadable ringing tones were introduced in Finland. Soon most forms of media content were introduced on mobile phones, tablets and other portable devices, and today the total value of media consumed on mobile vastly exceeds that of internet content, and was worth over 31 billion dollars in 2007 (source Informa). The mobile media content includes over 8 billion dollars worth of mobile music (ringing tones, ringback tones, truetones, MP3 files, karaoke, music videos, music streaming services etc.); over 5 billion dollars worth of mobile gaming; and various news, entertainment and advertising services. In Japan mobile phone books are so popular that five of the ten best-selling printed books were originally released as mobile phone books.

Similar to the internet, mobile is also an interactive media, but has far wider reach, with 3.3 billion mobile phone users at the end of 2007 to 1.3 billion internet users (source ITU). Like email on the internet, the top application on mobile is also a personal messaging service, but SMS text messaging is used by over 2.4 billion people. Practically all internet services and applications exist or have similar cousins on mobile, from search to multiplayer games to virtual worlds to blogs. Mobile has several unique benefits which many mobile media pundits claim make mobile a more powerful media than either TV or the internet, starting with mobile being permanently carried and always connected. Mobile has the best audience accuracy and is the only mass media with a built-in payment channel available to every user without any credit cards or PayPal accounts or even an age limit. Mobile is often called the 7th Mass Medium and either the fourth screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC screens) or the third screen (counting only TV and PC).

Mobile phones are a source of mass media for all companies and firms to advertise and sell their good s and services. In todays world mobile phones are owned by almost everyone and used more than regularly to get in touch, entertainment and also work. Most of todays generation uses smart phones like Iphones and Samsung Galaxy, this benefits companies and firms to advertise and sell goods and services and increase their sales. Many large companies advertise their products on phones via text messages, phone calls, alerts, emails (received on mobiles) and now days via applications. Some companies like Dominoes has its own mobile application through which you can make your own pizza with your own toppings and get it delivered to your house in less than an hour. Some car companies like Chevrolet has its own application in which it shows details of the owners car, mileage and when the cars next servicing is.

Differing from the internet, mobile as the 7th mass media channel is similar to the five legacy mass media, economically viable with a stable business model from day one. Yet, differing from the legacy mass media, all of which are witnessing a decline in their audiences and revenues, mobile like the internet, is an interactive media enabling it to fully capitalize on social networking and digital communities.
But more importantly from a media audience point-of-view, there already are over twice as many mobile phones worldwide as there are personal computers, nearly twice as many mobiles as TV sets. The only mass media that is carried upon the owner at all times, mobile is also the first mass media where near 100% accuracy is feasible on measuring the audience.
In todays world most of the companies use phones as a large medium of advertising because it has a large target audience and its connectivity is also good. Firms use this form of mass media as it is cheaper than billboards or advertising on the television, the reach of mobile phones is larger as the users are very high in numbers.