CHICAGO-Video content may be the new show to watch on the wireless Internet.
Content is the name of the game in the wireless Internet evolution going forward. And while it is by no means a new concept, companies are paying more attention to the wireless delivery of video content as the need for compelling content increases.
Technology providers such as PacketVideo Corp. and SolidStreaming Inc. are planning to address this space. Both companies provide wireless software solutions for mobile devices and networks to facilitate video and audio content delivery. Both offer technology platforms based on the MPEG4 video standard, adding their own flavor of proprietary technology on top.
PacketVideo has a commercially available platform called the PacketVideo Platform, consisting of the PacketVideo Player, Server and Author. Player is the client device that allows the content to be read; Server is for carriers and wireless application service providers to transmit the content; and Author is for developers to encode their content in MPEG4.
“We’re trying to build a new market here so we have to build an end-to-end solution,” said Vernon Stevenson, vice president of corporate development.
PacketVideo today is focused on personal digital assistants. The new Compaq iPAQ features its Player technology.
“Smart phones that have the silicon and the screens required for streaming video are not there yet,” he said. “You’ll see shipments beginning in the next six to eight months, first in Japan and Asia, then Europe and lastly the United States.”
SolidStreaming has similar series of technology to enable the device, network and content, called the SolidStreaming System, but is focusing on smart phones as well as PDAs today.
SolidStreaming announced a strategic alliance with Mobilocity Inc. The deal allows Mobilocity to offer its clients SolidStreaming’s wireless audio and video delivery applications. In return, SolidStreaming will offer its clients access to Mobilocity’s end-to-end mobile business strategic consulting and engineering implementation services.
“Carriers need to make money. Voice is a commodity,” said Ed Bronson, founder and chief executive officer of SolidStreaming. “Carriers are going to drive the video/audio space because it’s going to make them money. It’s not going to be done by us. Carriers are pushing this.”
Video takes many forms, but these firms are focused on what they believe will result in the utility for the user. That includes live cams, video on demand, video messaging and gaming. Live cams allow users to check what is happening at any given moment at a certain location, such as a traffic intersection, day-care center, etc. Vertical applications could be targeted to security and alarm-system companies.
Video on demand is the ability to request short clips of video, such as sports highlights, movie clips and trailers and others. The reverse is video messaging, the ability for someone to send the user an unsolicited video clip, be it friend or advertiser. Finally, there is gaming, such as networked games involving several players competing at remote locations.
Sprint PCS is collaborating with PacketVideo to develop several initial commercial vertical market applications featuring live-camera, remote-viewing capabilities. Sprint PCS and PacketVideo have also agreed to explore additional consumer offerings, including third-generation applications over Sprint’s 1xRTT wireless network delivered to a next-generation, media-enabled mobile phone.
SK Telecom will conduct a consumer field trial of PacketVideo’s wireless media technology in South Korea. This represents the first wireless media consumer field trial in the Korean market. The trials will test the delivery of PacketVideo’s wireless media technology over SK Telecom’s CDMA IS-95C (3G 1X) nationwide wireless network and will be accessible to select consumers using video-enabled mobile phones and PDAs. Consumers will have access to a variety of live cameras positioned in various locations around South Korea, in addition to pre-recorded video clips, including local news, movie trailers, games and music videos. The trials are expected to occur from October through December and will serve as a precursor to SK Telecom’s full commercial launch during the first quarter of 2001.
But while Sprint leads the charge in the United States, and others like SK Telecom follow suit overseas, there are several challenges facing the wireless video players to convince not only carriers, but end users that the services they make possible are needed.
Perhaps the biggest issue at this time is the lack of interoperability between competing video technology vendors.
Content created using PacketVideo’s software will not be available on devices or networks utilizing PacketVideo’s solution, and vice vera, according to Bronson.
“MPEG4 is a standard for streaming video over a low-bit environment,” he said. But the proprietary technology added to it to clean up these images are incompatible at this time. “Until you have a really open wireless Internet, it’s really a moot point anyway.”
