Mobile Television Turns Europe Off

Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief

“European’s interest in watching mobile television is as small as cellphone screens” so said today’s UK Daily Telegraph, quoting in turn a recent Gartner Group study (that I am still trying to find first-hand).

That’s interesting for Digital Out of Home I think. I do a lot of due diligence for investors in this market and an awful lot of SWOT analysis for vendors and suppliers.

In terms of THREAT there are couple of things I always say – and these are relevant as much last year as they are this…

Threats

  • High profile “as seen failures” (for example TescoTV, McDonalds, etc.)
  • (Too many Industry) Pilots that do not turn into full rollouts
  • IPTV
  • DMB-S, DMB-T and DVB-H

I always feared that if Mobile TV was successful it could dent the roll out of digital signage solutions, maybe now that threat is not so real – I am always pleased to be proved wrong!

Mobile TV: Standards Definitions

DMB-S
Digital Media Broadcast Satellite
Toshiba / Samsung

DMB-T
Digital Media Broadcast Terrestrial
Samsung / LG / SKT

DVB-H
Digital Video Broadcast Handheld
Nokia /’ TI / BenQ-Siemens

FLO
Forward Link Only
Qualcomm / Samsung / LG

ISDB-T
International Service Download Broadcast Terrestrial
NKT / Tokyo TV

Others
MBMS Multicast / Digital Radio Mondiale / Zhonghsi / Others
IPWireless / Digital Radio Mondiale

Analog TV phones (e.g. ATSC) and streaming TV-over-cellular.

DVB-H will be the more widely supported mobile TV technology, with broad industry support already emerging in key replacement markets in Europe and the US, due to strong support for this open standard from tier-1 players such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Siemens.

DMB-T, promoted by Samsung and LG, will be the strongest among a handful of runners-up, due to its relatively close alignment with the existing DAB digital radio standard.

MediaFLO, with aggressive support from Qualcomm and an urgent demand emerging from Verizon Wireless in the US, will overcome early barriers to see penetration of 9% of total US handset sales in 2010.

Moving forward, micro-display size will be critical to the visual experience associated with all mobile TV phones. Larger displays, of 2.5 inches and above, will enhance the viewing experience, but they run the risk of making devices too large and heavy.

Of all handset vendors, Samsung, Nokia and LG are making strong statements to establish leading technology proficiency with potential carrier partners. Motorola is also integrating digital mobile TV into its seamless-mobility initiative and creating a strong value statement for TV handsets.

Source: Strategy Analytics


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