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Premium rate culture: the new business of mobile interactivity

University of Sydney, Australia, gerard.goggin{at}arts.usyd.edu.au

Christina Spurgeon

Queensland University of Technology, Australia, c.spurgeon{at}qut.edu.au

This article considers a neglected but crucial aspect of the new business of mobile interactivity: the premium rate data services industry. It provides an international anatomy of this industry model and the ways in which it has been used to capitalize upon the surprising success of short message service (SMS) to provide a basis for the development of consumer markets for mobile data services. It situates this analysis within a wider consideration of the role of premium rate culture in the social shaping of interactivity in convergent media. Specifically, it looks at how premium rate services are being constructed in relation to telecommunications, television and the internet. The article concludes that although premium rate culture has rejuvenated innovation in broadcast television, potentially it may constrain the interactive potential of the mobile internet.

Key Words: interactivity • mobile internet • mobile messaging • mobile phones • premium mobile services • premium rate telecommunications • SMS

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