The first commercial mobile ring tones were created and delivered in Finland in 1998 when a Finnish mobile operator Radiolinja (today Elisa) started their downloadable mobile ring tone service called Harmonium. Invented by Vesa-Matti Paananen.[1], the Harmonium contained both tools for individuals to create monophonic ring tones and a mechanism to deliver them over-the-air (OTA) via SMS to a mobile handset. The service concept spread quickly in Europe and Asia and developed into a multi-billion dollar industry.[2] A ring tone service was one of the very first successful m-commerce services, with social media features like composing, sharing, and rating ring tones. The Harmonium also quickly created a market for high-quality professional ring tones and commercial ring tone libraries.
The rise of video games has also contributed to the popularity of ring tones.[3] On August 5, 2006, the BBC described "free ring tones" as a dangerous search term, because of the risk of malware and other malicious websites.[4]
By 2005, ring tones generated more than $2 billion in annual worldwide revenues.[5] Real tones, which are often excerpts from pop songs, have become popular as ring tones.
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