Reiter's Mobile TV Report

BlockBuster to offer thousands of movies to rent, buy for Motorola phones

BlockBuster today said it would offer thousands of movies from its OnDemand service (see below) for rental or purchase on certain Motorola cellular phones.

Software will be bundled with Motorola handsets.  However, the announcement provided almost no specifics, such as the phone models, the cost of the movies, the movie player’s capabilities and the digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.

Will the movies be downloaded via wireless and to a computer for transferring to the phone, or only directly to the phone?  I assume the phones will be 3G and, preferably, also have WiFi. 

Downloading a 90–minute, two-hour or longer film requires a fast connection, although software can begin streaming relatively quickly before most of a movie is downloaded.

Ease of use, pricing, flexibility crucial

I also assume movies can be downloaded to the handset’s microSD card.  But will they also be playable on a computer?  There’s no word on what the DRM will allow.

The press release says, “The agreement also will further BlockBuster’s multi-channel vision of eventually enabling customers to use the Company’s BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand application with multiple consumer electronics and portable devices, such as PCs, portable media players, Bu-ray Disc players, personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected TVs, to search BlockBuster’s entire catalog of entertainment content and download available titles for rent or purchase, schedule movies for mail delivery through BLOCKBUSTER Online, or reserve titles for in-store pick-up at participating BLOCKBUSTER stores or at BLOCKBUSTER Express branded vending machines.”

Yeah, well, we’ll have to see how onerous the DRM is and what, if anything, that paragraph will allow for the cellular movie service.

Movies on phones not new

I hope the phones will offer wide, high resolution screens, such as on the Apple iPhone, Nokia N96 and N97, Samsung Omnia HD and the BlackBerry Storm.  Motorola needs a great wide screen, multimedia-centric handset for the BlockBuster service.

This certainly isn’t the first time movies will be available for download to phones. For example, Sprint offered the service almost three years ago.

Some people know how to convert and transfer movies (and TV shows) to their phones, although it’s still relatively esoteric — except for iPhone owners who just use iTunes (see below).  Recently, rumors started that Netflix might offer streaming to iPhones.

The more people who become familiar with downloading and streaming movies and other video content, the easier it will be for mobile TV companies to promote their services.

LIN TV, News Over Wireless develop BlackBerry mobile TV software

LIN TV in conjunction with Capitol Broadcasting’s News Over Wireless is offering mobile TV software for BlackBerry phones, LIN says (pdf file).

LIN operates 27 television stations and released BlackBerry software on August 7 that was customized for six of the stations: WISH, WAVY, KRQE, WANE, WALA and KXAN (see below).  LIN also offers iPhone applications.

New Over Wireless has been a pioneer in developing platform and client software for mobile television, and I’ve written about the company several times.

Mobile TV might have many detractors, but there certainly are a variety of ways to obtain it in the United States — from cellular operators, directly from content providers and from TV stations.

DigiTimes stirs excitement over microprojectors in cellphones, MP3 players

Based on an unsourced article in DigiTimes, the blogosphere today is somewhat agog over the possibility of Apple and some other handset manufacturers integrating microprojectors into their products by the end of the year.

DigiTimes’ brief article reports the Taiwanese company Foxlink is developing microprojectors in cooperation with a handset vendor in Europe “according to sources with Taiwan handset makers.”  Foxlink has sent samples to the handset vendor, which might result in shipments in the fourth quarter of this year.

“International brand vendors, including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Apple, reportedly all plan to launch handsets with built-in microprojectors by the end of this year, indicated the sources, adding that Foxlink is likely to benefit from the emerging trend due to its strong business relationships with Nokia and Apple,” DigiTimes reports.

Skeptical about Apple

I have written previously in this weblog and on other sites that I believe microprojectors will be significant to the development of mobile television/mobile video as well as valuable for a variety of business uses.  I’ve been surprised to see microprojectors integrated into a handful (one or two) of cellular phones this year because I thought only external microprojectors would be offered in 2009.

I don’t know whether integrated microprojectors will be available this year in brand name cellular phones, but I’m skeptical they will be offered by Apple in either the iPhones or iPods.  As Harry McCracken writes in Technologizer, “Projectors may be getting tinier, but they aren’t yet teensy enough to cram into a phone or MP3 player that’s as thin as the ones Apple likes to make.”

He also says, “Apple history shows that it’s not all that interested in adding exotic features that won’t be used much, and is almost never the first company to embrace a new technology.  (It tends to cheerfully sit on the sidelines while other companies make bleeding-edge products that are noble in their ambitions but frustrating in practice.)”

Microprojectors will become standard

I agree with those statements, but not with McCracken’s view about “how often would a real person want to project an image from an iPhone or iPod in the real world?”  My view is “very often.” 

I believe microprojectors inside high end phones will become a standard feature within a few years.  But the price, battery life and screen resolution must be good for mass market appeal.

If I were in the mobile TV business, I’d do whatever I could to encourage the development of integrated microprojectors.  External microprojectors that connect to a phone or other electronic device via a cable or wireless won’t  produce mass market interest.

Apple features commercial about iPhone 3GS' video recording, editing

Apple has produced a 30–second commercial of a skakeboarder that highlights the video recording, editing (see below) and uploading capabilities of its new iPhone 3GS.

The quality of the iPhone 3GS’ video recording has been getting rather good reviews.  As with many bundled iPhone capabilities, video recording doesn’t have many (to say the least) bells and whistles, although it’s very simple to shoot, edit and send a video, either as an e-mail attachment or uploaded directly to YouTube (see above left).

I’ve used video editing programs on a variety of high end camera phones, especially Nokia Nseries (courtesy of Nokia's blogger relations program), and editing isn’t always intuitive, especially to users who have never done it before.  Apple’s bundled video editing software doesn’t do much, but the very lack of features combine with the touch interface makes it pretty simple to delete frames and transmit.

There’s no doubt many iPhone users will be shooting and uploading videos.  I also assume software developers will offer more advanced iPhone video editing applications.

Akamai to offer HTTP adaptive streaming for iPhone 3GS, iPod touch

From Gigaom I see that Akamai Technologies’ servers will offer HTTP adaptive streaming to the Apple iPhone 3GS and iPod touch via the newest OS X mobile operating system version 3.0, says Akamai’s press release.

As I wrote several days ago, HTTP adaptive streaming adjusts and compensates for data rate fluctuations in streaming video — wireless or wired — to offer the best quality based on the data speed.  It’s not a new technology, but it’s available now in the iPhone 3GS and will be available when the Apple’s new operating system version, Snow Leopard, is released later this year.

Akamai has established a demonstration Web site to showcase the technology (see below).  Content companies providing videos for the site include the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Discovery, Fox News, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, MTV, NPR, Turner Sports and USA Today, Akamai says.

Inlet Technologies’ software is encoding the live and video on demand highlights on that “iPhone 3.0 Video Showcase” site.

Business implications

As I noted in my previous blog posting, HTTP adaptive streaming runs in the Safari browser, without requiring a specific application.  That means content companies can offer video streaming without an app downloaded from iTunes and, possibly, without either Apple’s or AT&T’s approval.

Will Apple's HTTP adaptive streaming improve video viewing, revenues?

Liz Gannes of NewTeeVee has published an article in Business Week that suggests Apple’s use of HTTP adaptive streaming could dramatically improve the experience of viewing videos.  Gannes also implies it could affect business models.

In essence, HTTP adaptive streaming uses the highest available data rate and adjusts the video to compensate for different speeds of transmission.  A high speed data link typically will offer higher quality images than a low speed link.  But a key factor is the software will dynamically compensate for variable speeds without significant buffering so the video plays smoother rather than stuttering.

The iPhone’s Safari browser already incorporates this technique, although Apple’s computers won’t be able to take advantage of it until the new Snow Leopard operating system is available later this year, Gannes writes.

Business implications

Adaptive streaming isn’t a new concept and other companies offer it, such as Microsoft, Move Networks and Swarmcast, she says.  Apple didn’t publicly announce it until June, although the company worked secretly with video encoding firms Envivio and Inlet Technologies to produce demonstration projects.

Offering better quality cellular videos, especially with fluctuating data speeds, obviously is a useful feature.  But perhaps even more interesting is the possibility of using HTTP adaptive streaming for a new business model — at least from an Apple perspective.

“Because HTTP streaming is possible through the browser, developers who use it don’t need to pass through Apple and AT&T’s thorny App Store approval process.  (They also don’t have to expend the cost and effort of building out a specialized app.)  At this point, anyone who enables the technology is free to run it on 3G or WiFi,” Gannes says.

One commercial iPhone app

One iPhone application that already employs adaptive streaming is MLB.com’s At Bat program for live streaming baseball games and displaying a wealth of statistics, as I previously wrote.  At Bat costs a one-time $9.99, but MLB.com might offer new features — such as streaming local games that are now blacked out or more detailed statistics — for additional fees.

Obviously, streaming better quality video from Web sites directly to phones is another way to offer mobile video and mobile television programs.

YouTube says video uploads increase 400 percent since iPhone 3GS released

YouTube says in its blog that since the Apple iPhone 3GS (see above) was launched last Friday, video uploads to its site have increased 400 percent.  Also, during the past six months, uploads from cellular phones to YouTube have increased 1,700 percent.

Why?  YouTube says, “This growth represents three things coming together:  New video-enabled phones on the market, improvements to the upload flow when you post a video to YouTube from your phone, and a new feature on YouTube that allows your videos to be quickly and effortlessly shared through your social networks.

“It takes just a minute to connect your YouTube account to your Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader accounts.  Complete a simple, one-time connection on our upload page to allow all your friends and followers to get a real-time stream of your uploads to YouTube, which can be essential in this age of citizen reporting and ubiquitous sharing.”

iPhone’s influence

YouTube doesn’t say the 400 percent increase was specifically because of the iPhone 3GS, but the implication seems clear that it was.  This is the first iPhone with video recording capability, and the reviews have generally praised the recording quality (given that it’s from a phone).

We don’t know whether this significant spurt in video uploads will be just a brief phenomenon that won’t continue or whether it will increase.  Apple said on June 22 that one million 3GS handsets had been sold in three days — June 19 – June 21 — since the launch.

However, people who purchase iPhones are typically very data-centric, and it’s easy to record video with the handset.  As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised if the proportion of users who shoot and upload videos on their iPhone would be larger than most, if not all, other handsets.

Lack of video recording marketing

I’m not impressed — to say the least — with the way U.S. cellular operators have encouraged the use of phones for recording videos.  Indeed, I’ve written numerous times that the cellular operators’ after-sales customer education typically is terrible.

But if iPhone users continue to record videos in large numbers, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the operators decide that maybe there’s something to this newfangled camera phone video recording, and perhaps spent a little more time marketing that feature.

MLB.com streams baseball to iPhone, iPod, maybe sparking new business model

MLB.com will begin live streaming select baseball games to the Apple iPhone 3G S and iPod touch (incorporating the new OS 3.0) via its existing $9.99 At Bat 2009 application (see below), reports The New York Times.  But one of the most interesting aspects is the possibility it will spark a new business model for cellular applications, as discussed by ReadWriteWeb.

The MLB.com At Bat application will enable iPhone and touch users to view two free non-local games — chosen by MLB — every day.  Local games will be blacked out.

Additional games will be available as the season progresses, and it’s assumed that some games will require a fee.  The games may be viewed via WiFi or AT&T’s 3G network, which is interesting because AT&T and Apple have forbidden SlingPlayer Mobile from streaming videos from home computers to the iPhone via 3G; only WiFi streaming is allowed.

Pay-for statistics business model?

Marshall Kirkpatrick, the vice president of content creation and the lead writer at ReadWriteWeb (one of my favorite weblogs), writes that At Bat 2009 could herald a new business model where people would be willing to pay for statistics and other data — just as MLB.com offers a huge amount of statistical information about baseball games as part of its cellular application.

MLB.com At Bat 2009 offers such statistics as real-time scores, pitch-by-pitch (see top right), box scores and, game summaries.

Kirkpatrick writes, “The iPhone and Android platforms are brilliant for scrolling and zooming through layers of data in ways that print, TV and radio could only dream of.  Mobile, touchscreen and hand-held beats a Web page on the desktop computer too for data visualization.”

Mobile TV more than just “TV”

I’ve written previously about new ways to enhance value for mobile TV.  So far, mobile TV “innovation” mostly revolves around made-for-cellular programs, rather than much video + data integration.

Using SMS to vote for reality TV performers is about the best cellular operators and content providers have been able to come up with.  In other words, not much.

We’re seeing the television industry beginning to offer sets with Ethernet ports and widgets from Yahoo for accessing Web content (see below), as I’ve written in my Internet Evolution column.

Unlike TVs, cellular phones are made for data, duh.  It’s a natural device for integrating data with all type of videos.

PR executive mistakenly believes iPhone 3G S video is bad for TV news stations

Ben Haber, an executive at the public relations firm Racepoint Group, blogs that the new Apple iPhone 3G S is bad news for television news stations because everyone now will be acting as citizen journalists.

My reaction:  Baloney.

Haber’s views

I want to provide the full effect of Haber’s comments, so here is a large excerpt from his blog post: 

“We have already witnessed newspapers collapse at the feet of the Internet.  While many are hanging on (by a thread) some have already given up and become online-only or closed down completely.

“Next in line are the news stations.

“On June 19th our entire media structure will change with the release of the iPhone 3G S.  The ability to record, edit and post video online within seconds may be the largest difference-maker since email.  While it’s going to use social media as tools, mobile video is going to catch on faster the Facebook and have a larger impact then Twitter – it’s going to be massive….

“So beginning on June 19^th [when the iPhone 3G S is available] everything that happens — anywhere — is fair game….

“Every athlete and celebrity should prepare to have their actions documented in video when they are in public, and any type of event will be publicly broadcast on YouTube just seconds after it happens — which is where TV stations get hit.  From this point forward, citizens are now the leading news reporters.

“TV Stations [sic] are now behind the curve and will begin to join newspapers in line at the history museum unless they adapt with the times.  They will need to embrace mobile video, not shy away from it and ignore it.

“They will need to engage with their viewers and talk with them, work with them, and embrace them.  Finally, they need to offer additional insight and analysis that we can’t find on YouTube.”

My views

To coin a phrase, in what cave has Haber been living for the past several years and in what cave does he think TV stations have been living?

Has he never seen — let alone used — a camera phone with good video recording capabilities?  Perhaps he has used a camera phone but has been unable to figure out how to transmit videos from his phone to video sharing sites? 

Has he never seen the enormous number of camera phone videos on YouTube, Vimeo, Yahoo Video, etc.?  Has he never seen the huge number of camera phone videos of news events — posted online for years — including those from Iran?

Based on what Haber wrote he appears amazingly unfamiliar with the explosion of video recording on camera phones around the world.  What’s more, he thinks TV stations also are blind to the situation.  Perhaps he’s not familiar with CNN’s iReport or the camera phone videos used by TV stations and the discussions about mobile video in TV stations across the country.

Swayed by the God Apple?

Perhaps Haber has “seen the light” of the Godhead iPhone 3G S and realized that cellular phones can be used for video recording (see below)!  Who knew?!

To be just slightly more charitable, perhaps Haber realizes camera phones with video recording capabilities exist, but believes the new iPhone will let loose the sole clarion call responsible for creating millions of “citizen journalists” — whom he doesn’t seem to think have existed before June 19.

Although I haven’t yet tested the iPhone 3G S, I assume it will indeed be very easy to shoot videos and post them to Web sites.  I also assume it will spark many more people to shoot and post videos.

But to write, as Haber does, that “the world will change” for TV news stations is rather ridiculous.

Envivio launches encoding/distribution mobile TV package for iPhone OS 3.0

Envivio today announced iLiveTV — a hardware/software solution for encoding and distributing mobile television channels over the Apple iPhone when it’s upgraded with the new OS 3.0 beginning on June 17.

The company says, “iLiveTV includes the Envivio 4Caster C4 world-class video encoding platform, content delivery server software, a Web-based Cover Flow iPhone navigation portal, as well as integration and support from the world’s most experienced team of mobile TV deployment experts….

“iLiveTV enables operators to offer iPhone users multiple channels of live broadcast TV over 3G and Wi-Fi networks with home theater quality and premium features such as Catch-up TV, video on demand and a client channel guide.  iLiveTV supports all of the advanced capabilities of the new mobile video format in Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 to dynamically adapt to available bandwidth, optimize full screen video playback and increase battery life.”

Envivio announced iLiveTV at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, where the company is demonstrating the service.  Envivio also is promoting demonstrations on its Web site (see below).

AT&T’s existing mobile TV

AT&T Mobility already offers live streaming mobile TV (employing Qualcomm’s FLO.TV)  and video on demand packages (see below) for some handsets, but not for the iPhone.  For $15 a month, subscribers receive unlimited use of streaming mobile TV.  For $30 a month, video on demand is included.

When the iPhone was first introduced, I wrote about how it would be a great mobile TV receiver because of its large, high resolution screen and could take advantage of sideloading videos via iTunes.  However, offering mobile TV in the iPhone would entail chipset modifications as well as, possibly, an external antenna.

So we’ll see whether Apple wants true mobile TV in the iPhone.  So far, it doesn’t appear to be the case.  However, Envivio says iLiveTV was “designed in collaboration with Apple,” so perhaps other cellular operators will deploy it.