Mobile video needs royal wedding
To tip the balance to mass adoption
WHAT WE need is a royal wedding or something similar," claimed Mark Hyland from video specialist, Quickplay Media. "It would be a boon to the cause of mobile video."
Despite efforts to talk up the ubiquity of mobile media, only around five per cent of all mobile phone subscribers have consumed some form of streamed video content, Hyland was forced to admit.
There are multiple reasons for this and chief amongst these is a lack of a strong industry standard. The mobile video world has no real equivalent of Flash, although Adobe seems to be slowly awakening to this opportunity.
Another factor working against mobile video is pricing. Video is a key contributor to mobile phone subscribers' 'bill shock' which constantly hits the headlines.
Hyland points to one of his company's US based clients, Cricket Mobile, which offers and all-you-can eat mobile video content deal for a mere $5 per month.
Cricket's move closely mirrors what is happening in the mobile music arena where all-you-can eat tariffs are gaining popularity.
A further culprit is brand owners themselves. The INQ would argue that Vodafone is a good case in point.
The UK operator recently introduced an all-you-can-eat data tariff for music content downloads put together with Musicstation/Omnifone.
So why hasn't the operator offer a similar tariff for a mobile video 'catch-up' service aimed at supporters of sports such as Formula One or cricket.
After all, Vodafone itself sponsors both. µ
Comments
What is worth watching on a tiny phone screen?
Seriously, what content is there?I can view nonsense on youtube, or clips of tv shows. After a dozen times it gets a bit boring. I can see these much better on my pc.
For regular viewing I need proper TV shows. I think that if the mobile networks got together with the TV networks then we could see some good content. But they are hard to see on a tiny screen.
Price is also key.
I can pay SKY £20-£25 a month and get:
SKY+,
Free phonecalls to most landlines in Europe,
And a 2MB broadband connection.
What do the mobile phone networks give me for £20 a month? Sweet FA, and there's the rub.
£20 a month on a mobile contract gets me some minutes and texts. It's a ripoff.
What can you watch on a mobile anyway? Can I see BBC1, ITV, Sky1? Can I watch soaps, The Simpsons, Film4, Dave or anything regular and enjoyable? No.
One final thing. We are used to watching content when we are sat down, in front of televisions. Why try to watch the same thing for 100x the price on a tiny phone with crap sound when you're telly is in front of you?
Watching tv on a mobile could be good for rare occasions, or if you're banned from driving and need to use public transport. Anyone using public transport regularly probably cannot afford the high prices of mobile tv!
Watching regular telly on a mobile would be good, but those fools won't give us that. They are so dumb, flogging us a dead horse that never had any life in it.
Why are they taking so many years to get content and proper TV channels and shows on phones when I can buy a £25 5-inch TV in my local petrol station.
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