If you're looking for the latest playmate of the month you soon won't have to sneak up to the local newspaper stand. You can download it on your mobile phone. Simplified versions of adult entertainment from Playboy, most famous for its playmates, will be available for enthusiasts to download to their cellular phones from early next year.

"We'll be offering everything you can imagine related to Playboy," Mika Eriksson, chief executive of Wireless Entertainment Service Finland (WES), told Reuters. "You'll be able to download Playmates and other pictures for a small fee." WES was picked on Wednesday to help Internet site Playboy.com, a majority-owned subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises to offer static and animated graphics content.

Telecoms operators are expected to turn on the service in the first quarter of next year, with Belgium first to start up. Playboy entertainment will soon be available in other countries, including Britain and the United States.

Consumers will first only be able to download black and white pictures because most handsets do not have colour screens, but more advanced phones capable of handling high-quality colour pictures and images are expected on the market in late 2002. WES -- which offers ringing tones and graphics that can be downloaded on mobile phones for around 10 US cents each -- will also enable phone users to download lifestyle content, like boats, which feature in Playboy magazine and the website.

Eriksson said sex had a significant growth potential in the mobile phone space as telecoms operators were keen to find new services consumers would be willing to pay for.

"On the Internet, sex is the only thing that has been profitable and it's one area we focusing on," he said. "Our research shows that we can anticipate approximately one-million downloads in the first year alone," Larry Lux, president of Playboy.com, said in a statement.

Bureau Report