DRM (digital rights management) technology is poised for success on mobile phones, according to market research firm Parks Associates. The firm says clean-slate, interoperable standards will help the controversial technology succeed on phones, despite failures in other consumer device categories.

According to Parks Associates, the mobile phone industry and its content partners will be first to implement interoperable standards, such as the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) DRM Specifications 1.0 and 2.0. Such standards will provide greater revenue opportunies and better user experiences, and may eventually proliferate outside the phone industry. Apple, Microsoft, and RealNetworks have investigated the OMA's DRM specifications, Parks says.

Despite the potential for more widespread use, mobile phones currently represent the largest market for DRM technology, according to Parks, with over a quarter of US households likely to purchase a mobile phone during the coming year, according to Parks's recent suvey, “Consumers and Emerging Multimedia Platforms.”

Percentage of 4,020 respondents rating likelihood to purchase as a 6 or 7 on a 7-point scale, where 7 represents “definitely will purchase”
(Source: Parks Associates © 2005)

Parks says that the OMA's DRM specifications will face challenges, however, as evidenced by the current dispute over the appropriate amount of patent royalty fees between MPEG LA, a DRM patent licensing body, and mobile carriers.

Harry Wang, a research analyst at Parks Associates, said, “Unlike the personal computing and consumer electronics spaces, the mobile phone industry has been able to develop interoperable DRM solutions from the ground up. This has created a clean slate for the mobile phone industry to write its own DRM standard.”

Additional details about the Parks Associates report, entitled “Digital Rights: Content Ownership and Distribution,” are available online.

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