07:57 AM EST on Tuesday, February 7, 2006

By ANNA CROWLEY / 6NEWS
E-mail Anna: ACrowley@WCNC.COM

6NEWS

Inside a non-descript Old Pineville Road is on officer where 200 workers are focused on pornography. They upload, view, code and publish 1,600 videos a month so users can download it to their cell phone, PDA, or video iPod.

Charlotte is known for religious fervor, NASCAR and banking.  But what some may not know is that the Queen City is also home to the largest distributor of mobile porn and all of those video iPods sold this holiday are creating an explosion in the porn industry.

Fourteen million video iPods were sold in the first two months of their holiday release.  A couple of days after they took the market by storm some users started loading them up with pornography.  A Charlotte company called Xobile corners the market on providing it.  The traffic on their site just for iPod content was eight million hits, which ultimately brought their server down and illustrated just how big the latest porn boom is.

The days of sneaking into an adult movie store or hiding pornographic magazines are over.  There is a revolution underway in the porn business and a Charlotte company is leading the charge.

Inside a non-descript Old Pineville Road business park is a labyrinth of dark hallways.  The office space is the size of two football fields and 200 workers are focused on pornography.

Employees upload, view, code and publish 1,600 videos a month so users can download it to their cell phone, PDA, or video iPod.

Michael Herman is the company's business director.  He said his business is growing at roughly 80 percent a year.

"Do we want Charlotte to be known as the center for the porn industry? I don't think so," said Warren Smith, editor of Charlotte's Christian newspaper Charlotte World.

“I think it's awful that it's here in Charlotte and awful that it exists in general," he said.

According to Smith, the latest porn explosion not only offends Christian values, but hurts women, families, marriages, and children.

"If your kid gets a hold of pornography today it’s a result of bad parenting, not evil pornographers," said Harvey Kaplan, director of the Xobile's mobile operations.

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Kaplan said kids can't access the images on their video iPods or cell phones without a credit card.  But he admits that's the only stop-gap measure in place.

"It's not our responsibility to monitor children's activities at 11 p.m. at night,” Kaplan said.  “We do the best we possibly can to try and stop them from gaining access to adult content."

"It's a big problem and it's something I believe the churches and the government need to step up and do something about," Smith said.

Xobile brings in more than $50 million a year.  A portion adds to Charlotte’s tax base.

"Charlotte is going to have to walk away from those dirty dollars," Smith said.

But with 10,000 new users signing up every month, chances are Xobile isn't going anywhere.

“We are the 800 pound gorilla. We are one of the top 200 sites in the world and we are still predicting 80 percent growth over the next three years," Herman said.

The Xobile headquarters in Charlotte doesn't produce or film any porn in the area. They are strictly in the business of distribution and marketing.