Next Frontier: TV for Mobile Phones
The IHT posted a story on Monday on issues related to television for mobile phones. The story says, in part, “Before true mobile broadcast services can take off, a number of questions have to be answered: Which of at least five delivery methods, ranging from cellular technology to mobile broadcasting via separate wireless frequencies, works best? How will the relationship between television content providers, channel owners and mobile phone operators evolve? What kind of programming, if any, do mobile viewers want, and how much will they be willing to pay for it?” All good questions, we think, but the story fails to report the first real brick wall that that mobile TV services/technologies will hit.
Vodafone launched Japan’s first analog TV-enabled cell phone, NEC’s V601N, in late 2003. Under best-case conditions, it runs about 1 hour before the battery dies. While the IHT’s story properly focuses on services and business models, early mobile TV adopters will soon realize that they need their handset all day for voice and data — much more so than they need to watch TV. Is a dead battery worth it?
There does not seem to be a solution to this road block coming anytime soon; battery technology remains a stumbling block. Admittedly, there has been a lot of hype about fuel cells, however most people will think twice about packing not-so-tiny methanol-powered micro fuel cells around with them.
Nonetheless, in a number of countries, mobile phone operators have begun fledgling services offering a handful of TV channels or other video streams via 3G networks. In Germany, for instance, Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile operator, is mobi-casting a soap opera via 3G; others, including France Telecom’s Orange and Sprint PCS in the US, are also using cellular networks for TV offerings.
None of these will succeed until the battery problem is solved.
Related: Nokia have announced the first results from the Finnish Mobile TV pilot project, featuring broadcast content from the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki. Their findings indicate that 58 percent of test users thought it would be popular and watched 5-30 minutes on average per day. They also noted that “mobile TV users will receive the compilation broadcast for international distribution and five special championships broadcasts of individual events (running events, field events, race walking and the marathon). Each event can thus be followed without a break from start to finish.”
From a usage point of view, WWJ thinks mobile TV casts will have to be limited to 30 minutes or less, meaning mobile TV shows will have to be produced in snack-sized bites that people can access on-demand, in contrast to traditional ‘push’ style TV broadcasting.
— The Editors