NEW YORK, July 5 (UPI) -- gURL.com opened a mobile-phone storefront Tuesday oriented toward the lucrative teen phone market.
A division of iVillage, gURL.com is an online community for teenage girls.
Powered by Boston-based m-Qube, a mobile channel enabler, the mobile store offers ringtones and wallpapers aimed at teenage girls. Visitors can browse, preview and purchase content from the gURL.com mobile store, and, through participating wireless carriers, charges for downloads will appear on their monthly wireless bill.
Also offered is a mobile personality-profile service that assists visitors in customizing their mobile phones. By answering a series of brief questions, visitors are offered a selection of ringtones and images that fit their mobile profile, thus expressing their unique personality.
Mobile youth are an expanding consumer base. According to market-research firm youthKnowhow, approximately 82 percent of 15- to 19-year-olds own mobile phones, and market-research firm mobileYouth forecast that youth will spend over $100 billion on mobile services in 2005. This represents one dollar in every 10 dollars of disposable income going to their mobile phones or accessories, or 10 percent of all youth spending.
"Providing the millions of gURL.com members with customized mobile content through the mobile phone personalization engine helps our audience express themselves in a truly unique way," said Cathy Halley, senior editor, gURL.com. "m-Qube helped us develop a cutting-edge mobile storefront quickly and easily, creating a new and unique revenue source."
Andy Miller, senior vice president at m-Qube, said, "We are pleased to be working with gURL.com to leverage their powerful connection with young women, the core of the mobile content demographic."
He added, "gURL.com can now sell highly personalized mobile content directly to its target audience, providing connection and identification in a way that is not possible in other media."
