Another survey, this time from LA Times and Bloomberg, has come out showing there isn’t much demand for mobile TV/video, even amongst teenagers. “While more than 2 out of 5 teens and young adults indicated they were open to viewing this kind of content online, only 14% of teenagers said they wanted to watch television on a cellphone, and 17% said they would view programs on an iPod.”
While most suppliers of mobile TV services would be delighted at a penetration rate of 14% right now, those same companies also recognize that most people are disinterested in a new service until they try it. I still remember people saying they couldn’t see any reason to get a mobile phone in the first place, or use the internet for that matter.
Still, the reasons they give for not being interested demonstrate what needs to be fixed — One young lass was given a Sprint phone with mobile TV to impress the other kids at summer camp, but she turned it off. “It kept stopping midstream and stuff,” she said. “I didn’t really like it, so I took it off. It was extra money, and I didn’t think it was worth it.”
That’s quite a common complaint, especially for 3G services like Sprint. Personally, I think the companies involved should let the short videos on the Sprint service get downloaded rather than making them streamed, it would improve the quality tremendously.
For those who like checking such things the poll that the article references is included at the end of the article.
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