Michael Carroll questions mobile TV handsets' size
13 October 2006
Telecoms Special Features
Personal video recorders (PVRs) have revolutionized TV viewing by using intelligent hard-disk drives to record content. Eliminating the need for a video cassette, PVRs can be set to record the same program week in and week out and can even scan TV channels to pick out programs its users might want to watch. In short, the PVR meant consumers would never have to miss a TV program again.
When you consider that your favorite TV programs will be waiting for you to watch when you get home, it makes you wonder what need anyone could have for mobile TV services. Although the industry is buzzing with talk of the service, it might be helpful to look at past attempts to offer mobile television.
The first time TV went mobile was back in the 1980s, when Japanese consumer-electronics firms produced a range of miniaturized television sets. The products did not sell well - in Europe, at least - because of their bulky size, poor battery life and high price.
Of course, in the 1980s we did not have access to the ocean of TV content available in the new millennium. Nor did the vast majority of the global population carry a small electronic communications device with them. Anyone pursuing mobile TV in 2006 has a distinct advantage in that the means of delivering their service is already available in the shape of the mobile phone.
Billions of handsets have been sold, so in terms of sheer penetration, putting TV programs onto mobile phones seems to make sense.
If only it were that simple. The fact is that the first mobile TV services are not going to be available on that little device that fits so snugly in your pocket. Rather, the service will be available on dedicated units, such as Nokia's N93, that are much bigger than most handsets in use.
Nokia is not alone in having to make larger devices, and the need for a big product is clear. To accommodate mobile TV, Wi-Fi and cellular signals, the device needs five antennas. Antennas are small, but five of them make for a big device. It is also important to make clear that Nokia is pitching its N93 as a multimedia computer, not as a mobile phone.
If you can get over the size of the N93 - it is actually slightly smaller than the firm's 9500 Communicator device - you'll find picture quality that is very good, in a product that can show the full 90 minutes of a soccer game without having its battery die.
The N93 offers a high-quality mobile TV experience, which is fine if you are dedicated to TV programs but less acceptable if you only want to dip into content occasionally. The kind of customer who wants to watch only the odd clip on his phone is unlikely to want to buy a dedicated mobile TV device to do it on. Such users will surely want to view clips on the phones they already own.
Carriers and vendors are well aware of concerns about use. Some consumers will want to use mobile TV a lot, and others won't, but adoption will also rely heavily on the branding of services. Major TV broadcasters, including UK-based satellite outfit Sky, are eyeing the potential of offering their services via mobile phones, and the presence of such well-known - and trusted - brands could be enough to persuade consumers.
Sky has been one of the major drivers of PVR take-up in the UK, through its Sky Plus service. There is little reason to doubt that the firm will be successful in mobile TV, but only when the proposition fits the product.
At present, the service is likely to appeal only to the same early adopters who would have purchased a miniature TV set in the 1980s. Until the devices become less bulky, they are unlikely to attract the occasional users that will make mobile TV services fly.
Technology rarely stands still, and it is not unreasonable that first-generation mobile TV handsets are somewhat bigger than their regular counterparts. Devices grow with each technology that is installed in them, and it typically takes two to three years for the first "normal-sized" units to emerge. But first the service needs to prove itself, presenting something of a chicken-and-egg situation.
The question for mobile TV is whether it can prove itself to justify incorporating it into everyday handsets. Despite the raft of industry attention given to the concept, can it really compete with your PVR and large TV at home? Throw in your favorite seat and maybe a cold beverage, and compare that with sitting on a cramped commuter train trying to watch soccer on a tiny screen you can't see when the sun hits it. Now which sounds more appealing?
Michael Carroll is editor of Mobile Handset Analyst, published by Informa Telecoms&Media. For more information see www.telecoms.com/mha.
Other articles in this Special Feature:
- Telecoms.com's must reads on future mobile handsets
- Coping with handset slowdown
- Mobile Handset Vendors say goodbye to double digit growth from '07
- Michael Carroll ponders the handset name game
- Users warm to music on their phones
- Symbian continues to increase model numbers
- Vendors look beyond music devices to broader value chain
