Since the dawn of the Internet, the porn industry has pushed the limits of technology as purveyors of adult entertainment continually strive to find faster, better, and more accessible distribution models for their product. And despite Steve Jobs's insistence that no porn-related apps will ever become available from the iTunes App Store, many in the biz are heralding the iPhone 3G as the best thing for their industry since the Net.

The adult entertainment industry supports a $13 billion market catering to the libidinous desires of people around the globe. Until the Net, producers of erotic entertainment and their customers had to rely on a physical distribution model involving the production of print products, plus movies and videos generally served on DVDs.

Now, as bandwidth to the home and office has increased, video on demand and streaming images have become prominent vehicles for delivering X-rated content to a voracious customer base.

Enter the next-gen iPhone 3G. With the rise of video-sharing sites, as well as advances in digital technology that have made the transport of large files easier, producers of adult content are taking changes to the product distribution landscape very seriously, according to Dan Miller, publisher of adult entertainment industry trade magazine AVN.

"Tangible delivery methods are not going away soon," says Miller, "because plenty of adult content consumers don't live in areas where the latest technology is widely available." But producers definitely see digital distribution as a growing avenue for high margin revenues.

Already, in Europe, where pornography is more loosely regulated than it is in the United States, mobile phone users support an active market for adult video chat services: Customers pay on average $50 a month to exchange erotic messages with actresses.

In the United States, mobile porn consumers have been limited to racy text messaging and so-called "moan tones," sultry-sounding downloadable ringtones. But that's already changing, according to MJ McMahon, Miller's colleague and editor of AVN Online (beware of adult content and images!).

"There are probably a couple hundred websites developing content optimized for viewing on mobile platforms," McMahon says, with more coming online all the time. "It's a hot topic in the industry."

The most attractive aspects of the iPhone as a platform for porn delivery are the same ones that make it attractive as a device for watching sports, or Hollywood movies, or any other type of video content - the large, bright screen whose accelerometer allows the aspect ratio to change when the phone is flipped sideways, and of course, its ability to connect to the Internet.

Devan Cypher of San Francisco porn producer Sin City Entertainment says of the iPhone, "It's porn's best friend." Asked about Apple's very public resolve to keep porn apps out of the App Store and off the iPhone, Cypher laughs and says, "What [Apple] did ensured that porn would be on the iPhone. The phone is YouTube ready and porn is all about tube sites now; they are probably the industry's best advertising and marketing tool."

Cypher is sympathetic to Apple's concern about having its product associated with adult entertainment. But, he adds, "nobody is more concerned than producers of adult content about porn being used inappropriately or by people it's not intended for." Cypher likens porn to other things in society meant for adults only, such as guns and alcohol.

"All we're saying," he cautions, "is use your iPhone to view porn responsibly."