Spending on mobile entertainment in the UK during the first quarter of 2009 was flat and the overall market performance was down on 2008. However, despite these negative indicators there are reasons to be cheerful, according to a report from GfK Retail and Technology.

Trends are shifting towards video and music subscriptions, casual gaming is proving popular and flat rate mobile Internet usage continues to expand. Subscription-based purchases of video and music by mobile owners, as opposed to pay per download, are increasing and now represent 40 per cent of all mobile entertainment sales. Underpinning the games market are casual trivia and word games which account for 27 per cent of sales.  Retailing has become increasingly sophisticated with live portal management ensuring that the right games get in the right place at the right time.

The report concludes that, with touchscreen and 3G phones continuing to enjoy strong sales, the outlook for the UK mobile entertainment sector remains encouraging.

For more on this story:
- go to Cellular News [1]

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