Motricity To Incorporate Music, Video in Its Mobile Content Offerings

is gearing up to provide full-track music and video to its lineup of content offerings for mobile networks.

The Durham-based provider of mobile content and applications said Wednesday that it has signed a deal with

VoiceAge Networks

to add mobile multimedia content. VoiceAge Networks is based in Montreal.

The deal is an attempt by Motricity to capitalize on the growing demand for video and music entertainment by wireless network users. Motricity has long offered such content as digital books, games and ringtones.

Analysis firm Yankee Group estimates that $104 billion will be spent worldwide by consumers on mobile content this year. Mobile entertainment makes up some $35 billion of that amount.

eMarketer reported this week that mobile music sales are expected to reach $7.75 billion by the year 2010. That figure would represent 65 percent of global digital music sales, the firm said.

eMarketer also estimates that the number of wireless TV viewers will soar to 15 million in 2009, a dramatic increase from 1.2 million viewers in 2005.

However, a report from M:Metrics last week indicated that mobile content purchases had "flat-lined" after eight consecutive quarters of strong growth. The report said 2 million Americans, or about 1 percent of the market, are paying an average of $12 a month for mobile video services.

By working with VoiceAge, Motricity said its content and wireless network partners will be able to provide video and music in formats required by the requesting user's device. VoiceAge supports more than 8,000 different devices and will support others as they are introduced, the companies said.

"We selected the VoiceAge Networks content adaptation solution based on the coverage provided across all media types and formats, across all devices and all networks. They also demonstrated great vision and depth from a roadmap perspective," said Ryan Wuerch, chairman and chief executive officer for Motricity. "High-quality video and full-track music downloads are the future of mobile content, and by partnering with VoiceAge Networks, Motricity is poised to lead the industry in the delivery of this content."

Motricity also recently expanded the capabilities of its content platform known as Fuel 5 in order to deliver content to subscribers regardless of which carrier they use. The so-called "off platform" offerings contrast to what are called "on platform" content that is showcased by each provider, such as Sprint, Verizon, Cingular or Alltel.