Mobile TV: K.I.S.S.

As in “keep it simple, stupid,” the recurring theme from the packed session on mobile tv now underway. “People are only going to use this stuff if we keep it really simple to use,” warns Nigel Rundstrom, VP-multimedia sales & channel management, Nokia. He also cautions, “We have to be careful not to price ourselves out of the market. Paul Scanlan , co-founder of MobiTV, said the service wanted a help screen with less than five lines. “To run MobiTV you have to be able to turn it on.” He also told of almost launching the live TV service without live channels, scrambling to bring eight on board the night before it launched on Sprint.) As Dale Knoop, GM-multimedia, Sprint put it: “The last thing you want to see in this nascent industry are things that aren’t easy to use.
Interesting disconnect: moderator Andrew Cole, VP-communications paractice leader, A.T. Kearney, Inc., started the session off with a prediction that mobile-specific content will account for relatively little of the mobile-tv segment because people want familar content from TV. But Andy Nulman, president, Airborne Entertainment, made a good case for unfamiliar snippets of creative content that can go viral. My guess is the two forms appeal to different users. Matt Gillis, manager-entertainment programming, Verizon Wireless, says consumers leaned to branded programming during the first month of vCast but sees the need for a mix including custom programming. “We’re going to partner and we’re going to produce some programming,” says Gillis.

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