Hampshire, U.K. - The global mobile music market is expected to be worth $17.5 billion by 2012, with growth driven by rental music services and full-track downloads, according to a new report from Juniper Research. "I think it's fair to say that 2007 marked the tipping point as far as mobile music adoption was concerned," said report author Dr. Windsor Holden. "Far more subscribers began downloading and subscribing to music content in developed markets, and it must be said that that the publicity surrounding the iPhone launch undoubtedly contributed to consumer awareness of mobile music services per se."

The report predicts that the China/Far East region will remain the largest regional marketplace for mobile music over the next five years, accounting for around 43% of sales per year.

Juniper also sees an impending decline for ringtones, which will fall from 62% of the mobile music market in 2007 to 38% by 2012.

"With some operators now offering full-track downloads at a comparable price to iTunes, there is little justification for a ringtone retail price point that is in many cases two or even three times this level," said Holden.

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