Reiter's Mobile TV Report

Arima phone software facilitates sending SMS when watching mobile TV

Arima Communications has designed handset software that makes it easier to transmit and read SMS messages when watching mobile television, which could increase cellular operator revenues, the Taiwanese company says.

When the SMS-TV software is enabled, the phone’s screen resizes to include an SMS message window which facilitates sending as well as reading messages.  The software allows any type of message, of course — not just about mobile TV — but Arima is promoting the TV tie in.

The company says the capability “is targeted towards consumers who want to chat with one another while watching their favorite programs as well as those who like to interact with participation TV programs through voting or polling.” 

Arima notes that cellular operators could highlight this feature to encourage sending SMS which, obviously, could increase operator revenues — especially important for mobile TV service that is offered for free, rather than subscription-based.  The feature will be available in handsets this summer, Arima says.

Polymer Vision unveils Readius: Five-inch flexible screen for reading, cellular

Polymer Vision is promoting Readius, a flexible monochrome screen that can be rolled out from a celluar phone to faciliate reading text (see left), according to The Washington Post.  It also can be used with mobile television technology, but I bet it’s not what you’d think.

The screen supports 16 levels of gray in a QVGA (320 x 240 resolution) and is five inches diagonal (see below).  The screen weighs about four ounces and Polymer Vision working to develop a GSM version for HSDPA networks.  The company says the battery lasts up to 30 hours of continuous reading, but I assume that’s not based on using the cellular radio.

The Washington Post says the device is somewhat difficult to use as a phone because it has only eight buttons.  However, Thomas van der Zijden, vice president of sales and marketing at Polymer Vision, says that’s not a problem because most people dial phone numbers already in the contacts lists and the device can be synchronized contacts on a computer via a cable or Bluetooth.

Difficulties

Yeah, right.  This is a case where a sales and marketing guy is making light of what seems to be a significant problem — using a phone as a phone.  Of course, the device being shown might not be the one that is commercially launched.

Also, the Readius can play audio files and be used as a traditional Web browser.  (I wonder how good the graphics capability is.)  It’s not inconceiveable that certain customers might value the product for its non-voice capabilities rather than voice.

For example, a significant number of tech-savvy users really like the HTC Advantage (see left), that incorporates a cellular phone but is valued more as a sub-subnotebook computer or an MID (Mobile Internet Device).  The Advantage isn’t designed to be a person’s primary phone.  Perhaps a Readius device would be carried in addition to a small phone.

Polymer Vision will be able to deliver its device to partners by the end of the second quarter for commercial products in the third quarter, the article says.

Multiple file formats

I haven’t seen the screen, but it can display pdf, HTML and ASCII text files, the article says.  It uses Windows CE (not one of my favorite mobile operating systems) and currently can use the Open Mobile Alliance’s 1.0 digital right management system.

Van der Zijden says the device’s price will be comparable to high end smart phones, such as the Apple iPhone and Nokia N95 8 GB version.  That would mean it could cost from $400 to $750.

Mobile TV tie-in

This a screen designed for reading, not for watching videos.  So where’s the mobile TV connection?  Polymer Vision is developing a version for Telecom Italia for use over DVB-H.

Telecom Italia has been broadcasting mobile TV since, I think, around the middle of 2006.  However, DVB-H can be used for more than transmitting videos.  Telecom Italia is looking at the Readius for displaying lots of text, such as newspapers that the cellular operator would transmit, the article says.

This is the sort of technology that looks “futuristic” today, but could quite possibly become more mainstrean in the next several years.  Indeed, many companies are working hard to enhance viewing multimedia on portable devices, such as projectors for cellular phones, as I’ve previously written.

The phone/portable media player of 2015 could look a lot different and be a lot easier on the eyes than today’s products.

Mobile TV Alliance chief says consumers still need to understand mobile TV

Yoram Soloman, the president of the Mobile TV Alliance (a new group supporting DVB-H), says consumers still need to "get" the concept of mobile television, according to an article in Electronic News.

"People still don’t get it.  They didn’t get iPods, they didn’t get Blackberry, they didn’t get a lot of things until they held them in their hands," he says.

"You need a tipping point, something you really, really want to watch when you can’t be home," says Soloman, who also is senior director of strategic marketing and industry standards for Texas Instrument’s mobile connectivity solutions.

Little bits of mobile TV

Soloman explains, "You don’t watch a 30 minute show on mobile TV.  You watch two or three minute chunks from CNN, CNBC or ESPN. 

"It’s the same thing as Blackberry.  If you have two free minutes, you check your e-mail.  Now, you’ll watch TV."

For the most part, I think that's true.  I've watched mobile television on a variety of handsets and most people aren't going to spend much time watching videos on a small screen with relatively poor resolution.

However, many people are willing to watch  "one hour" (about 43 minutes without commercials) television programs on Apple's video-enabled iPods -- a fact I mentioned previously and will continue to mention.  Cellular phones with better, larger screens will stimulate interest in watching mobile TV for longer periods at a stretch.

It takes time

The World Cup has generated a huge amount of hype as being, supposedly, a major event to stimulate the use of mobile TV, as I've written before.  I guess when the matches are over we'll learn exactly how much interest and how many revenues the soccer championship generated.

Currently the quality of World Cup mobile TV is generating mixed reviews, ranging from good to watch because of good quality videos to a poor experience because of delayed programs and "stuttering" performance.

Soloman says if the World Cup isn't going to be the major "tipping point" there will be other opportunities -- such as the Super Bowl -- to spark consumer interest.  "There aren’t a lot of technologies that come out and people get right away," he says.

"If this isn’t the tipping point, there will be something else.  The big thing is just putting it [mobile TV] in their hands."

I think most analysts agree.  It can take a long time, ten years or longer, for a critical mass of consumers to adopt certain technologies.

CNET launches CNET TV beta with interesting online user interface

CNET recently launched its CNET TV beta with “thousands” of technology videos available online.  I’m looking at the “Tour CNET TV” video that explains the user interface (see below).

It’s worth looking at how CNET has created a remote control-type of graphic that offers many features, including setting up your own playlists of videos and channels, expanding and contracting lists, e-mailing videos, dragging and dropping categories to see the newest videos, etc.

Cellular operators, handset vendors and content providers have a lot of work ahead of them in developing user interfaces for mobile TV.  Today’s navigation for mobile TV is often awful.

User choice!

Users can’t create lists of their favorite programs and categories and it’s difficult — often impossible — to view a directory on the Web of all the cellular operators’ mobile TV offerings. 

Easy methods of navigating, viewing complete “mobile TV guides” and setting up preferences will be crucial to the growth of mobile TV.

CNET already offers one channel for cellular subscribers, that I watch on Sprint.  But it would be much more useful to be able able to select the videos — at least some subset — that are available online to view on my cellular phone.