Reiter's Mobile TV Report

gdgt cofounder Peter Rojas says "FLO TV Personal Television" device on the way

Technology expert/blogger and gdgt co-founder Peter Rojas says “a very reliable source” tells him Qualcomm will be launching a mobile television device called “FLO TV Personal Television” or “PTV.”

According to the source, Qualcomm will introduce it “soon,” and Rojas would be surprised if it wasn’t announced by the time of the Consumer Electronics Show in January.  The drawing (see above) is from frog design, courtesy of the source, he writes.

Rojas says PTV will feature “a capacitive touchscreen with a swipe and gesture-driven UI, 4GB of memory (presumably for storing music, not clear whether you'll also be able to play video files), built-in stereo speakers, and enough battery life for 300 hours of standby, 5 hours of TV, and 15 hours of music.”

Pessimistic about dedicated mobile TV devices

Rojas suggests that while Qualcomm typically doesn’t build devices (it’s primarily a chipset developer), it’s possibly testing the waters for a dedicated mobile TV device.  The article doesn’t say whether the PTV does much else in addition to playing mobile TV and music.

Although I’m a fan of mobile TV (duh), I’m doubtful that a single-purpose device will be successful.  Most people aren’t going to carry a relatively large dedicated device for TV, even if it’s also an mp3 player. 

Mobile TV on cellular phones makes the most sense, of course.  Yes, some people carry larger devices to watch videos, such as personal media players, especially to amuse their kids in cars.

iPhone mobile TV?

Rojas thinks an external turner for the Apple iPhone “might do pretty well,” and I agree.  The iPhone would make a great mobile TV device. 

AT&T Mobility began offering FLO TV (then called MediaFLO) in May 2008, so iPhone mobile TV wouldn’t be competitive with AT&T’s existing offerings.  Whether Apple would consider FLO TV as too competitive for iTunes and/or an external device as just too inelegant to approve, are other matters.

A FLO TV plug-in device for computers, especially laptops, might be successful, as might a Mobile DTV plug-in.  Qualcomm is exploring the possibilities for add-on FLO TV products.

Qualcomm's FLO TV, Rentrak develop mobile TV viewship data service

Qualcomm, developer of its FLO TV mobile television service has teamed with Rentrak to create mobile TV’s “first comprehensive viewership and advertising impression reporting,” according to the press release.

FLO TV will use this new service measurement service, Rentrak’s TV Essentials, to provide information to content providers and potential and existing mobile TV advertisers.  The two companies said they would start offering the data later this year.

There’s no doubt that advertisers require detailed viewer information to consider purchasing commercials.  Since the beginning of mobile TV, advertisers have being saying that viewership data is crucial to deciding whether and how to advertise.

TeleAnalytics predicts 80.8 million - 81.9 million mobile TV users by year-end 2009

TeleAnalytics’ Mobile TV Tracking Service’s forecasts (pdf file) 80.8 million – 81.9 million mobile television users by the end of 2009.

The research firm says, “Despite the financial crisis, mobile TV device sales will at worst remain flat, but an increase of up to two percent may be witnessed with respect to the 2008 sales total.”

The firm’s “Second Anniversary Issue” for mobile TV (see left) provides detailed statistics about usage around the world.  These include:

“Korea: In Q1-09, Korean Mobile TV (both DMBs) device volumes rebounded and were 3% higher than the volumes witnessed in the same quarter one year earlier.  SKT celebrated its 2 millionth S-DMB subscriber in mid-May.

“The Korean automotive MoTV market segment is the first MoTV market segment anywhere in the world to show serious signs of significant saturation.  At the end of Q1-09, the Korean automotive MoTV penetration exceeded 46% of the total addressable (covered) number of Korean passenger car registrations.

“Japan:  Japanese Mobile TV handset volumes have been significantly affected by the financial crisis and are likely to remain around the 6.2 million per quarter mark for the balance of the year. 

“In Q1-09, One-Seg penetration among the total number of Japanese handsets sold climbed to 81% from 61% one year earlier.  End Q1-09 Mobile TV (One-Seg) penetration in the 12+ market segment stood at 39.4%.

“China:  H1-09 CMMB device sales disappointed the CMMB vendors and SARFT's commercialization drive has up to now proven to be badly conceived and executed.  Things are likely to improve in H2-09, but SARFT is quite unlikely to reach its 2009 target (10 million).

“EU:  European MoTV is basically stagnant and as many as half a million DVB-H handsets may be sold this year, due mainly to the normal device replacement process rather than due to new DVB-H adds.

“Brazil:  One-Seg device pricing started falling.  Brazilian ISDB-T USBs cost $225 in Spring 2008, now they cost just over $50.  Additionally, handsets just over the $400 mark were recently introduced (the LG Scarlet).

“The average quarterly 2009 device volume is likely to be more than 28% higher than the volume witnessed in Q4-08 and the Brazilian Mobile TV market has started to get flooded by automotive ISDB-T STBs, which have questionable prospects for more than one reason.

“US:  FLO started expanding shortly after the US ASO.  ATSC-M/H is getting started in late summer.  For both networks, 2010 will be the pivotal year.”

“Air Interfaces:  This year, Mobile TV device sales in Japan and Brazil (ISDB-T) will exceed 27 million units. T-DMB will close the year with more than 16 million users, all of which originated from a single country (Korea).”

Michael Jackson memorial service generates huge viewership for FLO TV, GoTV

Michael Jackson’s memorial service on Tuesday (see below) generated not only huge online audiences but also huge mobile television audiences, says Wireless Week.

Qualcomm’s FLO TV says viewership increased more than 80 percent compared to the previous day, and the average viewer spent more than 40 minutes watching FLO, the article reports.  It was one of FLO TV’s best viewing days, and more than 85 percent of subscribers watching FLO between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. watched the memorial coverage.

GoTV Networks was the official mobile partner for the concert promoter and AEG, which owns the Staples Center where the memorial service was held.  GoTV says its transmissions were congested because of the large number of subscribers trying to access the programs, but the company was able to resolve the problems, Wireless Week says.

GoTV’s press release says it was broadcasting the memorial service over six of its programs and nine cellular operator partners.

Increase in viewers no surprise

I’d be shocked if the memorial service didn’t result in a huge number of mobile TV viewers.  Major live events often generate significant increases in viewers.

For example, major sports events, such as the World Cup, result in many new mobile TV subscribers.

CBS' "Big Brother" on FLO TV, SMS interactivity, simulation game, blog, etc.

If you’re a fan of the “Big Brother” television show on CBS (I am definitely not), you can get a multitude of multimedia tie-ins, including SMS interactivity and mobile television, according to InteractiveTV Today.

For mobile TV, “Big Brother” is transmitted over Qualcomm’s FLO TV, which is available over Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility.  Also, via SMS you may “interact with and influence the show,” says InteractiveTV Today.  (Perhaps you can “influence” the network to never to show this junk.)

In addition, CBS is offering a “mobile simulation game” to “allow viewers to compete in the ‘Big Brother’ house as one of the past contestants, playing various mini-games for such show elements as Head of Household and Power of Veto,” the article says.  If you still can’t get enough, you may sign up for SMS alerts (see top left). 

Will the excitement never cease?!

But wait — there’s more!  CBS offers two “Big Brother” Twitter feeds (@BigBrotherScoop and @BigBrotherHoH), a broadband video show with chats of the participants evicted from the show (I.Q.s over 75?), an online contest, a blog and oodles of other Internet-related excitement.

Despite my entirely justified disparagement of this doltish show, it’s certainly incredibly popular worldwide (so is sports — go figure!), and CBS is hot to employ as many Internet and cellular techniques as it can to increase its popularity. 

As a fan of mobile TV and convergence, I certainly can’t fault CBS for pulling out all the stops.  It makes sense, and I always am interested in Internet and cellular tie-ins to TV programs and movies.

Reuters reports users prefer mobile video apps, not broadcast TV

Reuters headlines its article, “Apps a nail in coffin of broadcast mobile TV,” suggesting that cellular users prefer to pick and chose individual TV programs/channels and movies rather than accepting the traditional broadcast TV model with bundles of programs.

The article sees the future for mobile TV as downloading applications for specific video services, such as the apps available via Livestation (see below). 

Reuters notes that a survey by KPMG and the Mobile Entertainment Forum showed almost 40 percent of consumers had watched video on their handsets, and that 52 percent said the experience was “satisfying” compared to 38 percent of a much smaller number of consumers who had tried broadcast mobile TV.

What’s interesting to me is that only about half of the consumers had a satisfying experience downloading videos, which isn’t a particularly impressive number.  It’s not a statistic to be proud of.

Testing options

Reuters reports that handset manufacturers are testing different options.  For example, Samsung and Sony Ericsson are offering full length movies, Apple’s iPhone can download TV shows (and movies) and Nokia is working with the creator of the TV program “Heroes” to produce a cellular project for launch this summer on the Ovi Store.

Ben Wood, the research director at CCS Insight, says, “Old-fashioned broadcasters who are wedded to the old broadcast model have the biggest challenge because those days are over; consumers expect their favorite content when they want it, on whatever platform is most convenient — TV, PC or a mobile phone."

If this concept is indeed valid — and it remains to be seen — it doesn’t bode well for, as an example, Qualcomm’s FLO TV, which broadcasts regular TV programs on handsets, although not necessarily at the same times they are broadcast on the networks.

Wired says: "Americans don't care about mobile TV"

Wired has published an article headlined, “Americans Don’t Care About Mobile TV” that discusses why mobile television hasn’t done very well in the United States.

The problem, the article concludes, isn’t technological, but cultural, although technology is a problem, too.  For example, Americans mostly commute by car (although, of course, many use public transportation) and can’t watch (or shouldn’t watch) mobile TV while they’re driving.

The compares to the Japanese, many of whom spend one hour or two each way commuting via public transportation.  Wired says Americans want to watch television on their large-screen TVs, not on tiny phone screens.

Target audience will pay

Flint Pulskamp, program manager for IDC’s wireless semiconductor research group, says a small percentage of people want to watch mobile TV and are willing to pay for better image quality, such as Qualcomm’s FLO TV network.

He says the studies indicate the target audience for mobile TV is willing to pay $15 a month to avoid advertising and obtain good quality images.  Hmmm, if he’s implying that means FLO TV, the programs certainly aren’t commercial-free.

Pulskamp also notes that some studies say the mobile TV business must offer free, ad-supported programs.  Perhaps he’s thinking about members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition who are developing free, ad-supported channels using their existing broadcast TV spectrum.

I disagree about payment plans

“Regardless, free-over air [broadcasts] will likely have a very slow uptake, and the very limited number of phones with tuners will make it even slower,” he says in Wired.  Pulskamp says Americans probably will be relegated to ordering individual shows via video on demand, rather than paying a flat monthly fee for unlimited access to bundles of programs. 

I don’t agree with that.  Americans prefer a flat monthly fee for unlimited service — for most mobile services — rather than having to buy things individually.  That’s not always the case, of course, as, for example, iTunes has demonstrated with with people ordering individual songs.

Tuong Nguyen, the lead mobile TV analyst for Gartner Research, isn’t any more optimistic than Pulskamp.  He says, “Remember those portable TVs from the ’80s?  How many people [in America] had those?  And that was free.

“Now, they want 15, 30, 40, or 50 bucks to watch it on a two-inch screen.  Are you kidding me?”

A bit overboard

Nguyen is going somewhat overboard on pricing.  Most mobile TV is $15 a month to $30 a month, although the price can be more if a subscriber picks more mobile TV packages from, for example, Sprint. 

Sprint offers a bundled packages for a flat monthly fee, but it’s also possible to add more subscriptions.

NTT DoCoMo buys 35 percent of video software company Packet Video

From mocoNews.net I see that the Japanese mobile telecommunications giant NTT DoCoMo has purchased 35 percent of the multimedia software company Packet Video for $45 million, according to Packet Video’s press release.

Packet Video has been working with DoCoMo since 1998, and its multimedia player software, pvPlayer, has been incorporated in more than 90 of the cellular operator’s phones, the press release says.  As mocoNews.net notes, Packet Video is part of Nextwave Wireless, which has been under financial pressure and appears to be making Packet Video its flagship product.

I wrote in late June that Qualcomm’s FLO TV says it will offer a keychain-sized device that receives FLO’s mobile television signal and relays it to WiFi-enabled devices.  That way, cellular phones and other electronic devices that aren’t specifically designed for FLO would be able to play the mobile TV programs.

Qualcomm hasn’t released the name of receiver’s manufacturer, but as I wrote in the article, Packet Video was developing that type of device.  I don’t know whether Packet Video is the company supply the receiver, but it’s worth mentioning.

HTC's Android Hero handset to include Adobe Flash Player 9 features

HTC’s upcoming Android-based cellular phone, the Hero (see below), will incorporate the functionality of Flash Player 9, which employs ActionScript 2, says Adobe’s press release and CNET News.

Although the Hero won’t initially include the more advanced version of Flash — Flash Player 10 with ActionScript 3 — the handset will able to play a large amount of Flash content, including many video clips, television programs and movies as well as games and other animated Web content.  Also, Adobe expects to offer a beta version of Flash Player 10 in the fourth quarter of 2009 and a commercial version in the first half of 2010.

[Adobe has posted a video highlighting the Android’s Flash capabilities (see below).]

Unfortunately, the current Flash software is specific to the Hero, and users of other Android phones won’t be able to download that version, CNET News says.  However, Adobe has been actively working on full versions of Flash for a variety of handsets, so the Hero won’t remain the only phone with Flash 9 or 10.

Significant for mobile TV

The incorporation of a cellular phone version of Flash that’s close to or the same as the version on computers is a significant development for mobile television.  A huge number of videos are coded in Flash.

If users are able to stream the many TV programs and movies already posted on the Web — without paying a separate monthly mobile TV fee — it could adversely affect paid subscriptions.  I discussed this further in my article in February when Adobe said it was developing a full version of Flash for phones for 2010.

U.S. cellular operators as well as companies and organizations in the mobile TV business, such as the Open Mobile Video Coalition, Qualcomm’s FLO TV and MobiTV, will have to consider the potential affects of millions of Flash-enabled handsets.

FLO TV to offer cheaper plans direct to consumers; use WiFi for some phones

Bill Stone, the head of Qualcomm’s FLO TV mobile television business, says FLO will offer less expensive plans directly to consumers, rather than through cellular operators, according to The New York Times’ Bits blog.  Also, FLO plans to offer service to handsets that aren’t designed for mobile TV.

Stone says an annual plan sold by FLO to consumers will probably cost less than $10 a month, the article says.  Also, there might be other plans, such as per-month pricing of about $10 and one-day use for $5.

Those seem pretty good prices to me.  However, if it’s a choice of spending $5 for one day versus $10 for an entire month, the latter is a much better deal.  Cellular operators typically charge at least $15 a month for FLO, as well as for data service.

Transferring FLO to phones via WiFi

Qualcomm also wants to enable cellular phones that don’t have a FLO chip — which most do not — to receive its programs, Bits says.  The company will sell a “keychain size gizmo” that receives the signals and transfers them to a handset via WiFi.

That brings back a memory:  On March 12, 2008 I wrote in this weblog that Packet Video, which is owned by Nextwave Wireless, was developing a small, external receiver that could receive mobile TV programs and transfer the signals to WiFi-enabled phones.  I noted that the receiver would work with FLO (formerly called MediaFLO) as well as DVB-H and TDtv.

At the time I wrote the article, the receiver was, supposedly, compatible with Nokia Nseries phones, the Apple iPhone and HTC smartphones.  The receiver certainly wasn’t as small as a keychain, but after more than a year of development, Packet Video might have been able to reduce the size.

I haven’t read any article that mentions the Packet Video device in conjunction with FLO.  If FLO is using that device, perhaps you will have read it here first!