Monstermob, the Lancashire-based maker of mobile ringtones is acquiring Chinese company M Dream for the development of new game titles for cellular phones. In the acquisition deal, M Dream, China’s largest maker of games for mobile devices, is to be paid £20 million, mostly in the form of Monstermob shares.
Monstermob earlier offshored some of its ringtone creation when it acquired Chinese multimedia provider ATOP for £56 million. ATOP provides MMS picture messages as well as ringtones.
The ringtone business is booming, and is set to be a highly successful sector in the UK music market. Expected sales for 2006 amount to £142.6 million, according to analyst Informa Telecoms and Media. This is a 7% increase from 2005 levels amounting to £133.3 million.
Company formation and business solutions experts view the ringtone business as an emerging industry brought about by the popularity of multimedia-enabled mobile phones. This industry is seen to boom in the next coming years, as more and more rich multimedia-enabled mobile devices are introduced to the market.