Bell Rings in Video
By: Marketnews

Bell Canada is now offering video ringtones to its customers, the first of this kind of service to be available in Canada. For $4 each, customers can download a video ringtone at www.bell.ca/ringtones, then program their compatible cell phone to play a music video when a call comes in, rather than just a simple audio ringtone.

Compatible phones include the Samsung a900 and the Sanyo 7500 and 8300, with additional phones to be added in the future. Videos can be purchased directly from the cell phone, or via PC, and are available from artists like Warner Music’s Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Sean Paul and Billy Talent.

"Video ringtones from Bell allow customers to instantly listen and watch their favourite digital music videos from almost every genre including R&B, hip-hop, country, and rock, offering the ultimate wireless experience for customers that want to personalize their mobile phone with a sense of style and function that is truly their own," said Ken Truffen, Director, Wireless Business Development, Bell Mobility.
"Video ringtones are another exciting development in the world of mobile music,” added Steve Kane, President, Warner Music Canada. “Warner Music Canada is committed to delivering music directly to the fan, wherever they may be and what better avenue than through the mobile phone."

Bell Canada also announced an exclusive Red Hot Chili Peppers contest to celebrate the launch of video ringtones. Any customer that downloads a Red Hot Chili Peppers video ringtone between August 11 and September 30, 2006 will be eligible to win a trip for two to Milan, Italy, including a pair of tickets to see the band play live on November 29, 2006. The grand prize includes return airfare for two, three nights accommodation, $500 in spending money, and more.

Additional prizes include three pairs of concert tickets to Red Hot Chili Peppers performances in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montréal and Québec City. For more information, and for additional ways to enter, visit www.bell.ca/mobilitycontests.
If there’s a marked difference between the top selling albums and the most in-demand tones, it’s because, ringtones are a marketing tool that build hype for an upcoming film.

So, a service provider’s list of top tones is a combination of what subscribers download and what marketing has been asked to push.

Another reason why it’s unlikely we’ll see a Crazy Frog type tune at the top of our tone charts is that not many people have phones that support voice-based tones or true tones.

‘‘Of the roughly 3,00,000 tones downloaded daily, 80 per cent are monophonic,’’ says Nitin Ahuja, business manager at BPL Mobile. Industry folks, however, are optimistic that things will change. ‘‘Give it six months. As more consumers go in for high-end phones, true tones will overtake others,’’ says Sanjay Sinha, mobile product manager, Yahoo! India.