Could the Apple iPhone help break the walled prison garden stranglehold
cellular operators have on wireless content -- specifically videos?
That's one of the ideas discussed in The New York Times' article today
about how Hollywood wants to get a piece of the content action on the
iPhone.
As the Times notes, "in Hollywood, where Mr. Jobs’s convention-defying tactics are all too familiar, media executives are eagerly preparing for a new era as they hope to position more content where consumers want it: in their hands."
The first-generation iPhone employs AT&T's (aka Cingular) slower GSM EDGE data protocol rather than its significantly faster HSDPA protocol. However, the handset also incorporates WiFi.
Bypassing cellular operators
As the article says, "Industry executives predict that as it becomes easier to get information via Wi-Fi networks, more consumers will bypass traditional wireless networks altogether. That prospect, while helpful for phone makers and media concerns, is frightening for service providers if consumers begin to regard them as irrelevant."
I wrote in a recent article discussing the iPhone and mobile television that for over-the-air mobile TV, the iPhone was a dud because it won't offer any AT&T mobile TV services -- at least at the outset. However, I also wrote that if you consider "mobile" to be "portable" as well as "wireless," the iPhone would be a multimedia powerhouse.
The reason: Sideloading -- downloading content via iTunes to a computer and then via a cable to the iPhone (see above). No cellular operator in the United States offers the breadth of content as iTunes, including a variety of video products -- video blogs, animations, music videos, complete TV programs and full length movies, as I wrote more than five months ago.
This could make it (1) very easy for people to get videos to the iPhone (2) relatively quickly if they have a broadband connection for their computer to download iTunes content.
Breaking down walled prisons
As a result, Apple doesn't need -- and the subscriber doesn't need -- to use a cellular operator to download lots of content. Of course for live streaming you still need a wireless connection, but that could be WiFi rather than EDGE. Granted, EDGE is so much more prevalent and, therefore, more convenient than trying to find a WiFi hotspot.
John Smelzer, the general manager of mobile operations for Fox Interactive Media, says in the article that videos in particular have been placed "behind a wall." Smelzer says, "It’s the antithesis of what’s happening on the Web.
"Any device that replicates the experience online is good for the entire industry. It will help us reach a mass audience."
A better viewing experience
Also, the iPhone's relatively large (3.5-inch), relatively high resolution (320 x 480 pixels) screen with "optical-quality glass" results in a great viewing experience (for a cellular phone).
"Filmmakers are not going to be happy having their films downloaded to cellphones with poor quality," says Christine Peters who produced "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and has been named to the board of Xero Mobile. "That's the beauty of the iPhone.
"It's simple and it looks good. Half the people who have these fancy cellphones don’t know how to use them."
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