After Games, Movies, and Music Come Novels On Mobiles

First it was games making an appearance on your mobiles. Then it was movies, followed by magazines, news and digital music. Now, novels are set to arrive on your mobile phones in the near future.
The copyright for China’s first novel to be delivered by mobile phone text messaging, has been sold by a Beijing-based wireless business operator for 180,000 yuan ($20,500), Xinhua news agency reported.
The abbreviated, 4,200-character “Outside the Fortress Besieged” will be delivered in installments by SMS, WAP or IVR format, which can be read by short messaging system (SMS), on the Internet, or listened to on a mobile phone, Xinhua said. IVR stands for interactive voice response and WAP for wireless application protocol. “Outside the Fortress Besieged” is a short story that describes an extra-marital love affair.
So it wouldn’t be long before you’re paying for short novels to read on your mobile phone. Although it would be unlikely for consumers to pay for the entire text of full-length novels (like Harry Potter) to be delivered to their mobiles, this represents a new opportunity for mobile network operators and content providers alike to cash in by delivering short novels and literature to their customers.
Read:
Chinese try out text msg novel [BBC News]
Copyright for cell phone novel has been sold [Textually.org]