Is video the future for mobile phones?
A former (temporary) employee of 3G phone network, 3, revealed last week that the network’s World Cup video coverage lost money. He went on to say that internal research by the company showed that some 50% of their subscribers only used their all-singing, all-dancing 3G phones for voice calls and text messaging. The company was not best pleased with his revelations, but other publicly available data supports the view that video content – of the paid-for variety at least – remains pretty unpopular with mobile phone users. Media law firm Olswang published a “convergence survey” at the end of last year that indicated that some 70% of users had no intention of downloading or viewing video content on their mobile phones. And there are few indications that this year’s study – due in November – will deliver a different message. In the meantime internet usage via mobile phones is on the rise and even 3 now talks of its corporate mission as being to bring IP (internet protocol) to mobile device
A former (temporary) employee of 3G phone network, 3, revealed last week that the network’s World Cup video coverage lost money. He went on to say that internal research by the company showed that some 50% of their subscribers only used their all-singing, all-dancing 3G phones for voice calls and text messaging. The company was not best pleased with his revelations, but other publicly available data supports the view that video content – of the paid-for variety at least – remains pretty unpopular with mobile phone users. Media law firm Olswang published a “convergence survey” at the end of last year that indicated that some 70% of users had no intention of downloading or viewing video content on their mobile phones. And there are few indications that this year’s study – due in November – will deliver a different message. In the meantime internet usage via mobile phones is on the rise and even 3 now talks of its corporate mission as being to bring IP (internet protocol) to mobile device
