We have all heard the popular adage that necessity is the mother of invention. As thinking beings, we humans, invent what we require in different circumstances. First we invented mobile phones, and then we incorporated the best of mobile tones to make the ringing of our mobiles customizable as well as more interesting.

The earliest types of mobile phone ringtones were monophonic ringtones. We heard them, we liked them and we downloaded these ringtones to our handsets. However, our quest for the best sounds in mobile phone ringtones continued. This necessity to hear mp3 sound quality from our mobile phones led to the design and development of more sophisticated ringtones. Real tones or true tones, voice tones and name tones were some among them.

Real tones are capable of representing real life sounds as well as music. Real tones or true tones have been well received by users from different regions of the world. A large segment of mobile phone users do not mind paying premium prices for downloading and playing part of a song as real tone, despite the availability of the entire song as digital music download.

The point is that the popularity of real tones or true tones is on the rise. This growing popularity of real tones as the latest and the best form of mobile phone ringtones is evident from an analysis of the user behavior in the mobility marketplace. According to reports of a recent research, around 60% of the revenues in mobile phone ringtones are generated by real tones. The download of monophonic ringtones and polyphonic ringtones together contributed to 33% of the share of the total revenue. Seven percent of the total revenues were due to the download of callback tones.

The findings of the report have been generated from actual audience participation in the purchase of different types of mobile phone ringtones such as name tones, voice tones, true tones, real tones and monophonic ringtones. It has been published by Telephia, an organization involved in the integrated analysis of data to cater to the needs of the mobile communications industry.

Some of the other findings of the report are listed below for easy reference:

? It has been found that mobile users prefer the music of pop artists such as Gwen Stefani, Destiny's Child, and Mariah Carey to be downloaded as their true tones or real tones. Some of the leading realtones in 2005 were Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl, Cater 2 U by Destiny's Child, and We Belong Together by Mariah Carey.

? Seventy-six percent of all the revenues from real tones were from certain specific genres. These include Rap/Hip-Hop, Pop and Punk among others.

? Eleven percent of the revenues in real tones were from voice tones.

? The songs that are popular as online digital music downloads were found to be popular as real tones as well.

Experts have also analyzed the need for users to download real tones or true tones. It has been found that users are downloading real tones or true tones even at premium rates, in a bid to add a touch of sophistication to their handsets.

Real tones have thus become an instant hit among users. It seems that the repute of real tones or true tones as one of the most interesting forms of mobile tones would not be easy to displace.