The Moving Image
in Motion - by Tom Dibble
Mobile video streaming has been creating a stir in
the industry recently, and several venture funds seem to be
investing heavily in its future. Is it just more hype? Are the
commercial realities to be reaped, or is it destined to join
the scrap heap of killer wireless applications?
In an ongoing bid to create a "must-have" strategy
for new data services, operators are constantly on the lookout
for the richer mobile experience. As MMS has just recently been
launched in Europe, it's far too early to predict its real future.
Sadly, initial handset sales aren't anything to write home about.
However, this shouldn't be an inference to consumers not wishing
to take up new mobile data services such as MMS.
Network operator TV advertising has yet to reach critical mass.
MMS needs to be promoted more, and educational marketing needs
to be stepped up before consumers can identify with the service
and see where it might fit into their everyday lives. Of course
the text-hungry youth market is fast becoming the operators'
key test audience for new jazzy services such as MMS, but cost
inhibits this age range from taking it up in a big way. Product
pricing needs to be ironed out as well.
That aside, MMS, in one guise or another, seems set to supersede
text messaging in the years to come. Now that it's here, the
industry is on the lookout for the next big thing. Mobile video
streaming seems to be it.
The underlying success of this embryonic industry is compression.
Just as high quality, high compression of Internet video was
required, mobile video needs the same and a whole lot more.
Connection speeds and bandwidth-led tariffs mean consumers will
be paying for what they receive. Therefore, a typical consumer
will want the experience, but won't want to pay a great deal
for it.
From an operator's perspective, it's in their interest to be
able to safely deliver a service without tying up network capacity,
and to offer mobile video en masse, at the right price. It's
really a next-generation product for a next-generation market.
Three years ago, you would have thought that anyone talking
about mobile phone video streaming would have "visionary"
somewhere in his or her job title. Slowly, but surely, players
are creeping in and beginning to make noise about achievements
that look promising. Technological advance is most certainly
there; commercial viability, however, may be something else.
Research shows that there's a huge gap in public expectations
of new mobile technologies, especially concerning video streaming.
Belief is that wireless video will be, at a minimum, VHS quality.
Reality will be quite different from the outset. Even when
we get to the point where mobile video streaming becomes a commercial
viability, what content will be king, if any? Analysts are predicting
news and gaming riding shotgun on the new platform. We shouldn't
kid ourselves. The potential is huge.
Bandwidth for multiplayer gaming designed for the handset is
a cry we have heard for awhile now from games houses. News giants
like CNN and CNBC will undoubtedly be working with technology
companies to get their brand across to what arguably is a new
audience for them. Media owners are chomping at the bit, waiting
for this to happen. The advertising industry won't know what
has hit them.
But let's put things into perspective. GPRS
as a bearer won't comfortably deliver video. Next generation
is where video streaming will see realization. That video streaming
will be the savior of operators' next-generation licenses might
be an extreme statement, but there is no doubt that, because
of the technology it uses, it will be a high revenue earner
for them from both direct and indirect customers. We wait with
bated breath.
Copyright © 2006 SYS-CON Media. All Rights
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