Finland users like their mobile TV

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: KEITH SHAW ON WIRELESS COMPUTING
DEVICES
09/06/05
Today's focus: Finland users like their mobile TV

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Nokia details results of commercial mobile TV pilot
* Links related to Wireless Computing Devices
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Finland users like their mobile TV

By Keith Shaw

Maybe I've been too hard on carriers trying to get end users to
watch TV on their mobile phones. People in Finland certainly
seemed to enjoy it.

Nokia last week released results from a commercial mobile TV
pilot held in Helsinki, Finland, which revealed that 41% of the
pilot participants said they would be willing to buy mobile TV
services, and that a fixed monthly fee of 10 euros (about
$12.33) would be a reasonable price to pay. Interestingly, the
pilot members were charged 4.90 euros per month to take part in
the program, with more than half saying that a 10-euro monthly
fee was reasonable. In addition, several said they would be
interested in a pay-per-view model for specific content, such as
a football match or racing competition, Nokia says.

The pilot program was conducted between March and June 2005 by
Nokia, Digita, Elisa, MTV, Channel Four Finland (Nelonen),
TeliaSoren Finland and YLE, with 500 users watching TV on a
Nokia 7710 smart phone. The service also used DVB-H technology,
which lets TV channels be distributed effectively to mobile
devices, Nokia says. Up to 55 channels are possible through
DVB-H, Nokia says.

Results showed that people in the pilot wanted to watch familiar
programs as well as content "suitable for short and occasional
viewing." Programs among the top 10 watched during the pilot
included the Ice Hockey World Cup games, Formula One racing (San
Marino and Monaco), and the UEFA Champions League match between
Liverpool and AC Milan.

Nokia says that mobile TV users spent about 20 minutes a day
watching mobile TV, although "more active users" watched between
30 to 40 minutes per session. The company adds that users
watched most while traveling on public transportation, but that
watching at home for entertainment or to complement regular TV
watching also proved popular among the participants.

So can U.S. carriers learn anything from the Finnish project?
Nokia says some key requirements in the mobile TV services
include:

* An easy and intuitive service.

* Good technical functionality and reliability.

* Content suitable for short periods of viewing.

* The TV application should not interfere with mobile phone
functions.

In the past, I've been pretty hard on U.S. carriers and their
attempts to bring mobile video content to users. However, I
recently checked out Verizon's VCast service on a new LG phone
(the VX8100). I found that viewing the video clips was not
choppy or laggy as I expected, so Verizon Wireless should be
commended for providing a good mobile TV experience.

In terms of available content, I'm still a bit doubtful - when I
tried the VX8100 the only thing I was remotely interested in was
the daily ESPN highlights clip show. Still, users should not be
afraid to try VCast because of the network - in my case, the
video quality and network streaming provided a good experience.

More details on the Finnish project are at
<http://www.finnishmobiletv.com/>.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. VoIP rollouts generate heat, power concerns
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmobile6281>

2. Cell carriers tackle Katrina damage
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmobile6382>

3. 2005 salary survey <http://www.networkworld.com/nlmobile4017>

4. Google dives deeper into networking
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmobile6046>

5. Katrina news <http://www.networkworld.com/nlmobile6383>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cell carriers tackle Katrina damage
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmobile6384>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Keith Shaw

Keith Shaw is Senior Editor, Product Testing, at Network World.
In addition, he writes the " Cool Tools
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/cooltools.html> "
column, which looks at gizmos, gadgets and other mobile
computing devices.

You can reach Keith at <mailto:kshaw@nww.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Ciena
Network World Executive Guide: Compliance can be an opportunity
for Network Improvements

Federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are driving
increased corporate spending on key IT areas such as security,
authentication, access control and document management. Get
advice from experts. Read about real-world tactics. Learn about
the dark side of compliance: what happens when thing wrong. And,
how mandates are affecting IT budgets.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=112844
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Wireless Computing Devices newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/mobile/index.html

Keith Shaw's Cool Tools:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/cooltools.html
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
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VoIP networks performing at their best. Click here for more:
<http://www.networkworld.com/topics/voip.html>
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