I came across this article a while back, which features Niklas Savander, head of Nokia’s Internet Services unit, stating that mobile TV services aren’t picking up like Nokia (and others) had hoped they would. Issues that I can see include a small number of compatible handsets, as well as pricing and whatnot. However, Niklas also made another statement that kinda hit me in a ‘duh’ moment that I can only hope he saw, too, “We have seen that there are multiple segments who are not interested in the broadcasting, but rather in downloads.”
Brilliant. As the regular TV market (which I worked in for 2 years in Ad Sales) is figuring out what to do about the onslaught of consumers using DVR technology such as TiVo to time-shift their media and watch it on their own schedule, it seems silly that the mobile industry would think consumers would want live TV on their handsets. I’ve recently setup cable TV in my own home again, and did not even blink at the extra $9/mo for a DVR box. It’s a given that I would want to be able to watch the content on my own time.
The Nokia N96, which was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, features a DVB-H receiver, for live broadcast TV in Europe and other areas. It also rocks 16GB of internal storage, with a microSD card slot and the ability to record the live TV broadcasts that it receives. Brilliant, but it needs to go a step further. I also have a Slingbox, which I’m setting up this afternoon, and Slingbox Mobile on my N95-3. While yes, I could use this to watch live TV, I’m more interested in using it to, from my phone, anywhere, have access to my DVR, including content, but also being able to setup new recordings, if need be.
My reaction to Niklas’ statements are that mobile users could care less about mobile TV, honestly. We want mobile video, yes, but not live TV. What about you? Are you uses more like mine, or do you really want to watch live TV on your phone?
