Wireless World: Religious ringtones

CHICAGO, March 31 (UPI) -- The muezzin is calling. But the cleric is not in a minaret, above the town square, reminding all that it is time to face Mecca and pray. He's a digital muezzin, calling on the mobile phone of the worldwide faithful, with a daily reminder ringtone. Experts are telling United Press International's Wireless World that religious ringtones -- and ringback tones -- are growing in popularity throughout the world amongst people of faith.

"Music expresses who someone is," Cindy Mesaros, vice president of marketing at Moderati Inc., a mobile-phone ringtone developer based in San Francisco, told Wireless World. "What better way for a person of faith to tell others who they are than through religious music?" By Gene Koprowski