Teens Deck Their Cell Phones with New Ringtones

Valley Forge, PA (PRLEAP) December 1, 2005 — Brittany Edwards, 13, of Villanova, Pennsylvania, likes Christmas music, but only a few weeks before Christmas. And, she doesn’t like hearing it in stores or on TV commercials; she only likes it on her…cell phone.

Brittany is like many teens that are as likely to enjoy listening to Christmas carols as much as they would enjoy listening to disco. That is, until her phone rings. “Most of them (Christmas carols) are just plain boring. A ringtone makes it more upbeat. No lyrics to listen to. So you get the whole tune out of it without the annoying words,” said the Connecticut seventh grade student.

Seasonal ringtones are part of a big business in an industry that is ringing up profits for many companies across the United States. Independent ringtone operators are earning $600 million per year from the sale of ringtones and some industry analysts estimate that carriers are deriving ten percent of their annual revenues from data applications, the biggest of which happens to be ringtones. Billboard magazine even ranks the Top Ringtones each week. “Ringtone sales have far exceeded our expectations for this year,” said Bret Dunlap, president of Monstertones (www.monstertones.com), a ringtone company that provides the newest type of ringtones, MP3 ringtones.

“Of all the holidays, Christmas ringtones and Halloween ringtones make the most sales,” said Bob Bentz, CEO for one of the industry leaders, Ringingphone (www.ringingphone.com). “Our best selling Christmas ringtones are the upbeat ones like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We also recently added the Mr. Grinch ringtone and that one is very popular too.”

Kelly Monagran, 14, of suburban St. Louis, agrees that Christmas carols are way uncool. “The music in the stores starts way too early and you get sick of it by the time December comes around. Plus, the songs like Silent Night are just too slow.” Christmas ringtones are a different story. “Say your phone rings when you are with your friends and it’s a Christmas ringtone. It puts you in the mood for Christmas.”

Kelly’s classmate, Matt Norton, 15, likes Christmas ringtones more for their comedic effect on his friends. Sampson, a devoted hip-hop fan who usually has the latest Fabulous ringtone on his phone, says his friends are surprised when his phone rings and it’s the Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ringtone. “It cracks them up. I put it on for like two weeks just before Christmas and then I’ll put it on again in like June or something and then I really get some laughs.”