From almost nothing five years ago, the mobile music market in Asia/Pacific grew to US$3.3 billion in 2005, and will reach US$9.3 billion by 2010, reports In-Stat. The breakthrough years for mobile music in Asia/Pacific will be 2007 and 2008. Growth drivers include large markets like China and India reaching a critical mass of mobile subscribers and 3G services becoming prevalent regionwide.

"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," says 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."

What this tells us is for service providers, it is not always clear what the next revenue generator will be but is crucial to stay nimble so you can capitalize on emerging trends. It is also important to take risks to be ahead of positive growth curves.