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There’s a strong argument that the adult entertainment industry, and sex in general, has been a major driver in most forms of technology, from the Polaroid photograph to videotape to the Internet. Indeed, there are already reports that adult chatline companies are preparing to cash in on the iPhone 4′s Facetime video calling feature.
So it’s intriguing to hear a take on digital technology from the founder of Digital Playground, one of the major international porn companies, perhaps best known for its development of “interactive” DVDs which give the user choice over exactly how the on-screen action evolves.
Ali Joone, founder and director of Digital Playground, told Conceivablytech.com that he’s more than ready to ditch Flash as soon as the major desktop browsers are ready for HTML 5. Although he complains about the comparative slowness and battery consumption of Flash, it appears Joone is more interested in the number of users available for the respective technologies.
Joone also notes that DVD is outselling Blu-ray by a two-to-one ratio among his customers, a greater proportion than in mainstream movies. (I’d have thought that Blu-ray might be the point where a sharper picture of adult performances starts to become more a detriment than a benefit…)
He also points to the perhaps surprising fact that download and disc sales are roughly even, which he says is because customers who want to share movies with friends find it easier to do so with physical media. Of course, these stats are for paid sales: among unauthorized viewing, it may well be that illegal downloads vastly outnumber illegal disc copying.
In other comments which go against what you might expect, Joone says that despite the iPhone’s small screen, it’s a popular format for customers simply because it is so personal to users when compared to a shared computer or television. He also says that despite the obvious benefits of porn in 3D, the format won’t take off until compatible TV sets cost under $1,000 and there’s no need for special glasses.