Reiter's Mobile TV Report

Qualcom's MEMs group promotes e-paper display for possible cellular phone use

Qualcomm’s MEMs Technologies group has been showing off a new electronic paper display that could be appropriate for cellular phones and other portable devices, according to an article in Technology Review.

Electronic paper displays are reflective and may be used in a variety of lighting conditions, such as bright sunlight (that often washes out LCDs), and are designed to use less power than many other displays.

The Qualcomm technology uses microscopic switches that turn on and off fast enough for video, unlike slower e-paper displays.  The first MEMs version, monochrome, was just offered in a Bluetooth headset by Audiovox and a two-color version is slated to be introduced next year by a Chinese company, Hisense, the article says.

Not perfect

Technology Review discusses the details of the technology, noting that the power advantage is for static images, not videos.  Also, such displays are able to be produced for smaller screens, which is why cellular handsets could be an appropriate choice.

Useful DVB-H information: Nokia's Mobile TV Forum newsletter

If you’re interested in the mobile television industry and don’t read Nokia’s Mobile TV Forum newsletter (see below), you might want to consider doing so.

Although the newsletter promotes the DVB-H protocol, it has lots of useful information about commercial launches, tests, products, etc.  The most recent issue, October, includes articles about DVB-H in Taiwan, a mobile TV roadmap for France, mobile TV awards at the Mipcom television conference and the Nokia Video Center offerings for Nseries cellular phone users.

(I’ve written about the Nokia Video Center service at Mobi-lize.)

No, I don’t have any affiliation with Nokia’s Mobile TV Forum or promote one mobile TV protocol over another.  It’s just worthwhile to read the newsletter.

Japan, South Korea have 38 million mobile TV viewers -- 78 percent of totak

Japan and South Korea have the largest number of mobile television viewers — about 38 million, almost 78 percent of the total mobile TV audience, according to a press release by Berg Insight.

Sabine Ehlers, an associate analyst at the research firm, says 3G-based mobile TV will be the dominant platform for the next couple of years.  The cost of building dedicated mobile TV networks, such as DVB-H, will delay the launch of wide-scale implementations in Europe.

However, the issue of which mobile TV protocol to implement will become less important because “multi-standard handsets and chips will eventually reduce choice of underlying network to a technical consideration only concerning the manufacturers and network operators,” the press release says.  Berg Insight says that in the long term, all the technologies providing video services, such as mobile TV, and other wireless services, will be IP-based.

AT&T delaying MediaFLO-based mobile TV until January or February 2008

AT&T had planned to launch its Qualcomm MediaFLO-based mobile television service by the end of this year, but it’s delaying the service until January or February 2008, according to RCR News.

AT&T hasn’t provided any details about the delay.  RCR was able to get only a generic comment from Mark Siegel, a public relations executive at AT&T, who says, “Because it’s brand new, we just want to make sure the product is going to be well received by our customers.  We just want to make sure we really have it nailed.”

The article reports AT&T says there haven’t been any problems with either the hardware or software during the testing.  Some analysts speculate that the cellular operator is looking for ways to differentiate its service from Verizon Wireless, that introduced its MediaFLO service, V CAST Mobile TV, last March.

This is the first I’ve heard about the delay, so I don’t know what the story is.

3 Italia wants to offer DVB-H + digital terrestrial TV

The Italian cellular operator, 3 Italia, wants to be an “integrated TV publisher” that offers at least two kinds of television services:  Mobile TV and digital-terrestrial television (DTT) channel transmission, according to an article in RapidTV News.

The article reports that 3 Italia by 2010 wants 50 percent of its network to broadcast DVB-H mobile TV and 50 percent to broadcast DTT.  The company will be able to transmit four DTT channels, of which two are high definition.

RapidTV News says 3 Italia has 770,000 subscribers with a mobile TV phone and 40 percent of them access mobile TV and video at least once a week.

Telecom Trends International predicts two billion-plus mobile TV viewers in 2013

Telecom Trends International’s new mobile television report predicts more than two billion users watching free mobile TV and total industry revenues of $134.5 billion by 2013, according to the press release and the firm’s brief executive summary of the report.

The report, “Mobile TV: Executing the Vision,” says the overwhelming majority of people will watch free mobile TV but paid TV will offer high quality made-for-cellular programs.

The executive summary says 8.9 million people watched mobile TV in 2006, of whom 3.9 million paid for the service, rather than receiving it free over the network (see below).

By the end of 2007, there will be 24.4 million mobile TV viewers, of whom 33.7 percent will pay for subscriptions.  In 2009 more than 100 million people will watch free mobile TV and in 20013 that number will exceed two billion, the report says.

Mobile TV a killer app

Naqi Jaffery, the president and chief analyst, at Telecom Trends International, says mobile TV is a killer app and, “Just as mobile voice is becoming the primary means of voice communication, mobile TV will eventually become the primary means of accessing television.”

He says in the release, “The momentum generated by mobile TV has surprised many industry observers.  Despite the multiplicity of standards and lack of uniform frequency allocation, mobile TV is making a tremendous impact on the marketplace.”

Indeed, the summary says cellular will be the primary way to access video programs, just as cellular is the primary method for voice calls.  “The market is seeing the evolution of multi-network architecture with the same device supporting more than one standard.

“At the same time, out-of-band broadcast and in-band multicast technologies are converging into one seamless network architecture.  Besides providing high quality TV reception, such architecture enables interactivity that will give a significant boost to mobile commerce.”

Business model confusion

Jaffery’s comments about the current success and future growth are rather interesting, especially in light of so many analysts reporting how poorly mobile TV has done in terms of subscriber numbers. 

However, I’m glad to read that the summary doesn’t provide all “happy news.”  The summary notes that the wireless industry has “bungled” the pricing model by either getting lots of subscribers with free service, but few revenues, or by signing up a disappointing number of subcribers with subscriptions.

The summary says, “The year 2008 will see the marriage of these two models with the industry migrating to a model that provides basic programming free of charge, and premium programming for an additional fee.”

Fee versus free

The United States definitely has the fee-based model.  However, I can see cellular operators eventually offering some basic channels to stimulate the purchase of mobile TV-capable handsets.  Sprint, for example, has established its own production facilities in Chicago and offers its own programs with its Sprint Exclusive Entertainment (SEE) network, as I previously wrote.

Currently SEE is available “for free,” but Sprint customers must purchase one of several Power Vision subscriptions, ranging from $15 to $30 per month for mobile TV, music, SMS, Web browsing, etc.  So SEE isn’t free, but it’s definitely a resource that Sprint could offer without requiring other subscriptions.

However, Power Vision packages include unlimited data access, such as e-mail and Web browsing, so any truly free SEE offering would have to take data access into account in some way.

Verizon Wireless V CAST offers Sony's Mobisode Network condensed TV videos

Sony Pictures Television is providing its Minisode Network that features condensed videos of old television shows to Verizon Wireless for its on-demand V CAST Video offering, according to the press release.

Basically, full-length episodes are condensed into a four– to six-minute videos.  The Minisode Network also is available online on MySpace for free viewing (see below).  As the press release says, “Bite-sized entertainment, the minisodes retain the full story arc of each episode offered, revitalizing these brands and making them perfect entertainment snacks for online consumption.”

The Minisode Network was launched June 2007 on MySpace and generated more than 3.25 million views in the first four months, the release says.

The Minisode Network is part of Sony’s new Crackle Web site (see below) that features a variety of production studio videos as well as user-generated videos.  Viewers who register may rank videos as well as share them with friends and embed them in their own Web sites.

Crackle has a large variety of programs, such as “Fantasy Island,” “The Partridge Family,” “Police Woman,” “Ricki Lake,” “Sheena,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “T.J. Hooker” and other programs I have never watched and never will.

Viewing via Verizon

The Minisode Network on Verizon, that I viewed on a Samsung SCH-u740 (see below; taken with Nokia N95 five megapixel camera phone), is found by clicking on the Net’s Best category (No. 6 out of ten categories), scrolling down to the Minisode Network (No. 9 on the list) and choosing from among eight categories:  What’s hot (most viewed, I assume), “Married With Children,” “Diff’rent Strokes,” “What’s Happening?” “Bewitched,” “Charlie’s Angel’s,” “Fantasy Island” and “VIP.”

This highlights one of my complaints with mobile TV:  Navigation.  Firstly, how would anyone know that the Minisode Network is under the Net’s Best?  Secondly, it takes lots of clicks to find the program you want.

Thirdly, there’s no flexibility at all in the locked-down BREW interface that enables users to add, for example, a “Married With Children” icon to the V CAST Videos main menu to easily and quickly access that program.

Sony’s global, multi-platform vision

But there’s a “larger picture” for all of this:  Sony Pictures is a conglomerate with a huge variety of entertainment vehicles (see below), ranging from television to DVDs to games and, most recently, cellular.  Sony’s strategy is global, multi-platform and digital.

Mobile TV certainly doesn’t generate much cash.  It’s a microscopic footnote on a spreadsheet.  But it is an ongoing project and Sony is actively pursuing mobile TV in a variety of ways.

RCR News has a detailed article about Sony Pictures Television’s strategy.  I suspect I’ll be writing more about this in the near future.

eMarketer interviews MobiTV's Jack Hallahan who discusses mobile TV advertising

eMarketer interviews Jack Hallahan, vice president of advertising and brand partnerships at MobiTV, who discusses the company’s paid mobile television subscription model versus new free WAP efforts.

Hallahan says that although MobiTV’s services are based on subscriptions, the company is talking to some content providers, such as BMG and Warner, to provide exposure to performers via WAP sites.  He uses an example of CBS’ “Pirate Masters” reality show (now cancelled) that included a site featuring Avril Lavigne.

Hallahan says the site offered MP3s, wallpapers, ringtones, etc.  “Marketing supported the site.  Other media pointed to the WAP site, which then pointed to MobiTV.

“As a result, we got 500,000 visits to the site.  On the paid side, our advertisers can reach an audience paying $10 a month who really want the content.”

Sprint, MobiTV sign multi-year agreement for continued mobile TV offerings

Sprint and MobiTV (that already provides mobile television to Sprint) have entered into a multi-year agreement to continue to enhance mobile TV offerings, according to the press. release.

Here’s what the release says will occur in the future:

*  An easier-to-use interface for Sprint TV
*  Better video quality and full-screen support
*  Faster channel switching
*  MobiTV on more devices, such as PDAs, smartphones and PocketPC

Sprint offers three main mobile TV packages:  Sprint TV, Sprint TV Xtra (that I think was Sprint TV Live) and Sprint TV en Vivo (Spanish language programming).  In addition, Sprint offers many extra-cost channels.

Marketing and interfaces

I’m not a fan of the awful lack of information Sprint provides on its Digital Lounge Web site that sells mobile TV services (although it’s doing a much better job on the Web with its new SEE offerings, as I’ve written).  I am a fan, though, of Sprint’s wealth of mobile TV offerings that, alas, most Americans have no idea even exist.

Easier-to-use interfaces are very, very important to cellular operators, let alone to users.  A great deal of work is being done on this by the operators in conjunction with mobile TV platform and content companies.

On the way to the CTIA's Wireless I.T. & Entertainment conference

I'm on the way to Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2007, the CTIA's conference focusing on all sorts of entertainment and enterprise applications.

The show is in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities in the country, at the Moscone convention center. 

It will be extremely hectic, attending panel discussions, briefings on new products and services, looking at lots and lots of exhibits and attending receptions. 

Testing the Pearl 8120

I'll also try to take some videos of the conference and/or the city with my new Research in Motion Pearl 8120 that has, for the first time, video recording capabilities and WiFi plus a two megapixel camera (an increase from 1.3 megapixels).

It's not yet available in the United States, but it's coming.

I'll be posting Pearl videos for my two-part article about the 8120's video recording capabilities and RIM's wireless imaging strategy.  The articles will be published on the mobile video/mobile television Web site, www.Mobi-lize.com, for which I write.

Get in touch

If you want to get in touch with me while I'm in The City by the Bay, my e-mail address is on all my weblogs.  It's certainly the best way to reach me. 

[Sent to TypePad via wireless e-mail with RIM BlackBerry Curve 8320.]