I have a list of items that I call ‘Blindspots’ – things that others seems to be excited about but I just don’t get (either I’m not excited, or I need to learn more). My fear is that I am missing something in the discussion or alternately, I get something that others do not. Either way, my eyes glaze over when folks start lathering at the mouth over one of my well developed blindspots.
The MobHappy guys took a hatchet to Mobile TV recently. And I totally concur with their sentiments. My take is also that TV, as in regular streaming broadcast TV, doesn’t make sense anymore on any platform, so it’s dead already when it hits the mobile device (disclaimer – my company makes DVBH devices, but I don’t, so this is my opinion*). And video itself is not really mobile. Portable, yes. Mobile, as in walking and using the mobile device, no.
On the other hand, something is up in the apparent success with the video iPod and I think that points to where portable video is going. Specific videos. Good size and format. Easy discovery and management.
So, my suggestion is to watch the iPod for where portable video is going, not these ridiculous mobile TV pilots.
Link: Please, Make The Mobile TV Hype Stop at MobHappy.
The results of two mobile TV trials in the UK have been released, with plenty of stories painting the service as The! Next! Big! Thing! But both of these trials raise as many questions as they answer. Russell mentioned yesterday how the results of the first trial showed people were more interested in — and spent more time — listening to the radio than watching TV on their handsets, but the spin is clearly turned on over at BT Movio, talking about “consumer thirst” for mobile TV.
More blindspots coming (eh, I’m not perfect). What’s your blindspot?
*My company also makes Series 60 devices and the 770 Internet Tablet, all of which could easily adopt a iPod like model in finding, packaging, and viewing videos in a portable way (kinda like the PSP, too).
I believe there will be a combination of live viewing and on-demand viewing of stored content with mobile TV. If you are commuting or outdoors and you don’t have access to a TV, you can catch a live event such as a breaking news story, a sports match, or even a reality show. Other content, such as TV series and movies can be stored on the mobile device and watched on-demand, when you want to kill some time. Such content can be delivered to the mobile device from a variety of sources: Downloading from a PC (like the video iPod experience), downloading from the PVR of your home set-top box, recording live mobile TV on the built-in PVR of your mobile device, or even “filecasting” of content directly to the mobile device over the DVB-H network.