Comments on: Who really wants mobile video anyway?

By: charliesierra

charliesierra — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:17:09 +0000

The value of video in the short term, and probably longer, all accrues to QCOM.

Video demands a very high end phone, which translates to more royalties for QCOM. Plus their MediaFlo network (which is not CDMA) represents a way to diminish TI’s standing in the chipset market.

It will very interesting to see the terms that QCOM offers the carriers for reselling video.

QCOM should make a mint on this, even if it sucks.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 14:23:40 +0000

I think the only value to the mobile video is when you can get it cheaply and it is special and if possible has a news value to it. oh also it needs to match our off line video experience. my two cents

By: JRX35

JRX35 — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 12:44:37 +0000

I had the chance to play with a Sprint phone with MobiTV. While the quality was horrible (b/c of the data pipe from Sprint), audio was indeed there. I was at a little league game and all the parents were intrigued and indicated that they would pay $10 for the service given a lot of channels. I personally think that it isn’t ready for prime time until you get good frame rates and obviouly that depends on the data network getting fatter capability a la 3G.

By: Permanent4

Permanent4 — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 12:18:08 +0000

As someone who has used a form of mobile video in the past, I can assure you that video is best viewed on a nice large screen while sitting on a nice comfy sofa. A million PSP users aren’t going to change that, either.

By: Roshan

Roshan — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 10:18:32 +0000

Yep… you definitely don’t want to watch Katie Couric on your phone. But when you consider watching episodes of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, I think mobile video makes a lot of sense.

By: Sam Sugar

Sam Sugar — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 19:26:39 +0000

There is already one company I know of who are offering live video-chat to phones in Europe. You select a young lady (who’s not an mployee of the company and can be anyone with a broadband connection anywhere on the planet) and it’s encoded live. She or he type messages to you. You watch and text back.

It’s wildly popular.

I predict that as ususal the desire to satisfy carnal urges will encourage companies to perfect technology that’s then used for other more boring things.

Thank goodness for the pornographers eh?

By: Ken Leebow

Ken Leebow — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 18:21:33 +0000

Well, once the speed is there, that handy-dandy (always on and available) cellphone will be ready, willing, and able to handle video. Of course, it will handle audio, and it will be a computer too. And it will handle the occasional phone call too.

As Bob Dylan sang: “Times they are a changin.”