EU kicks ringtone butt
THE FOLKS AT THE European Union are out to bust balls and kick the booty of the mobile ringtone industry - and not just for inflicting the Crazy Frog on the world at large.
A new report from the EU says that the vast majority of sites on the net offering paid-for ringtone downloads don't comply with legislation that lays out how pricing and contracts have to be labelled, with the result that many people - teenagers in particular - are getting right royally ripped off when attempting to download the lastest Justin Trousersnake choon to their mobile.
Meglena Kuneva, the EU Consumer Commissioner, said that "We need to get a clear message out particularly to teenagers and children - be on your guard. It's all about the smallprint ... make sure you are not signing up for more than you bargained for."
The issue is not a small problem, with the ringtone industryone of the only laces the music biz is making any degree of coin. Up to 29 per cent of all mobile revenue comes from ringtones, which can sell for pounds a pop, whilst costing barely pennies to actually deliver.
According to the report, 39 of the 43 major ringtone-selling sites in Britain need to fix up their Ts and Cs to be EU compliant.
Catch a few more deets over at this rag. ยต
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This practice is going on since more than a decade. The telcos are happily participating in this scheme. How about throwing a few CEOs of the phony industry into the clink? I bet that would fix the problem for good.
On 3 April 2008:
Malcolm Wicks (Minister of State (Energy), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Croydon North, Labour) "In particular, mobile network operators have made it easier for customers to cancel subscriptions: they simply need to send a message consisting of the word "STOP". I understand that that has resulted in a reported 62 per cent. fall in the number of complaints"

On July 13, 2008
The Times "PhonepayPlus, the industry body that regulates add-on mobile phone services, has recorded a 108% rise in complaints in the past year, with 4,500 in January to March alone"
If you have a toddler and have unlocked your Nokia phone it's almost witty.

I have Diego 3.08 and a 99$CAD Nokia 6275i with pay as you go from Virgin. No contract.

I made a few changes to the phone. MP3 ringtones, free GPS enabled(MGM Maps), MP4 recording, allow all Java Apps and Opera minibrowser. It has a 2megapixel camera and a 320 x 240 screen and takes micro and my old mini SD cards. It plays TV show and movies decently.

If you buy your phone it belongs to you. Don't tell me what to do with my F@CK!NG phone.

If you buy ringtones or pay for an Iphone you are being robbed. This much functionality for 99$ should allow you to benchmark the value of locked phones.