Asia-Pacific mobile music market to grow to $9.3b, In-Stat says

From almost nothing five years ago, the mobile music market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow to $9.3 billion by 2010, after reaching $3.3 billion in 2005, according to research firm In-Stat.

The breakthrough years for mobile music in Asia Pacific would be 2007 and 2008, with growth coming from markets such as China and India, the research firm said.

By 2007 and 2008, In-Stat said those two markets should have already reached a critical mass of mobile subscribers and 3G services would have already become prevalent across the region.

"Ringtones have been the primary driver for mobile music growth in the past, but this will change as new mobile phones equipped with digital music file playback capability create a new market," said Bryan Wang, In-Stat director. "As consumer preferences change, the future growth of the mobile music industry rests on ringback tones and full music tracks."