:: netwoman's blog ::

Implications of Wireless Tech

Where do we go from here? Playboy has the answer:

Sex cells: Wireless operators find that racy cellphone video drives surge in broadband

Thursday, May 12, 2005
By Cassell Bryan-Low and David Pringle, The Wall Street Journal

Pornography helped drive the early adoption of new technologies such as the VCR and the Internet. Now, wireless providers in many countries are counting on sex to spur the use of their broadband cellphone services.

Customers of French operator Orange, for instance, can view video clips on their cellphones from the company's wireless portal that feature women in the shower or cavorting half-naked on the beach at sunset. Orange, a unit of France Telecom SA, says as much as a quarter of all videos accessed from its portal are erotic -- the equivalent of about 3,330 hours of viewing each month.

Starting in June, cellphone users in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia will be able to chat with Vivienne, a "virtual girlfriend" created by Artificial Life Inc., a Hong Kong-based maker of interactive games. She says on her Web site, www.v-girl.com, that she won't have real or cyber sex with her admirers. But "we can have exciting conversations about all sorts of things," she says.

posted by Netwoman @ 9:26 PM