TV could overtake gaming and music as the consumer's favoured application for mobile phones, according to research.
Services in Japan, South Korea and Italy are attracting millions, confounding critics who said people would not watch TV on a small device.
But consumers remain confused by what is on offer, as competing service offer different content and quality.
On Wed, 09 May 2007 17:21:38 GMT, John Navas wrote in :
See also: "Gaming, music and TV to drive mobile market"
John Navas wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
And yet you were promising what a total disaster it was going to be only a few months ago.
.... why is this in the alt.internet.wireless newsgroup?
There's a key difference in South Korea and Japan compared to the U.S., and that's the amount of time the majority of the populace spends in non-self-driving commuting.
Also, in Japan and Korea, the coverage is much better, even underground in subways. In the U.S., most of the underground systems have no coverage. Washington DC's Metro has Verizon coverage underground, but I don't think that any of the other undergrounds have coverage yet.
Still, the advent of larger screen phones like the iPhone may make mobile TV more popular, at least to the teen crowd who's parents will spend money foolishly on them.
I agree. As one who has spent time in Asia, especially Japan, this stuff works well for them. Coverage is also key. Phones were a lot smaller in Japan because of the power of the network. Everyone commutes.
The camera in cell phone was such a Japanese concept and embraced successfully over there.
It took a ton of marketing to sell the concept to the U.S. market. Marketing works, though - all they needed to do was sell the teens.
I'm sure the carriers want mobile TV to work. The profits from the added airtime charges alone will be worth the millions to sell it to us. I'll bet a lot of parents are worried.
I'll stick with WiFi on my laptop until they get that pricing under control. Free podcasts to my iPod are still the best thing around.
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