Sprint PCS introduced a new multimedia message service that can deliver more than 600 new streaming audio and video clips per day to subscribers carrying the new Samsung MM-A700.
MobiTV creator Idetic Inc. will provide content and operations for “Sprint TV,” the “basic cable” channel of Sprint’s new service. The channel is one of four included in the $10 monthly subscription fee, and will feature highlighted content culled from the service’s premium channels, which are offered individually at $4 to $5 each per month.
Since MobiTV’s launch a year ago, Sprint has been the only carrier to offer live television broadcasts. While Sprint refuses to disclose figures, estimates place the number of MobiTV subscribers at about 150,000, and most industry observers agree the business model appears to be succeeding.
But mobile video users represent a tiny sliver of the industry, and Sprint’s new MMS is available only to consumers who use the Samsung handset, which was released earlier this month. Also, even early adopters may find video prohibitively expensive: the stripped-down version of Sprint’s new MMS is $10 a month (the same price as MobiTV), in addition to the $15 monthly Vision subscription fee and regular voice plan charges.
With such a small market share, some analysts believe consumers will choose on-demand video over live broadcasts when it comes to watching video on their handsets. But Idetic Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Phillip Alvelda believes the new service won’t detract from MobiTV’s viewership.
“They’re two very different usage models,” els,” Alvelda said of live TV broadcasts vs. pre-recorded, on-demand video clips. “They kind of meet different needs. It’s the difference between watching the capture of Saddam Hussein live vs. the next day, wanting to go back to the archives and see what happened.”
One reason Sprint’s new MMS may be more attractive is that it is 15 frames-per-second video, which begins to approach TV’s 30 frames per second. When MobiTV initially launched, video was streamed at 1 or 2 frames per second, looking more like a staccato PowerPoint presentation than a typical TV broadcast.
While Alvelda wouldn’t comment on specifics like frames per second, he said MobiTV’s quality has evolved quickly in the last year, as have handset video monitors.
“The new service is being compared to the product we released last September,” he said. “If you were to compare the new video-on-demand service to MobiTV on the same phone, you’d discover they were very close (in broadcast quality).”
Even with similar qualities, though, some believe the key to video applications is to give customers what they want, when they want it-meaning video-on-demand will be more popular than live broadcasts. Others, like Andrew Cole, vice president of consulting firm A.T. Kearney, say that mobile video content generally should be based on the most successful video medium ever: TV.
“I think there is a case for some specifically created mobile video content, but people want to have existing channels” like they watch at home, Cole said. “I think a lot of the cable television content is transferable to handsets.”
Cole cited a recent satellite launch by Korea’s S.K. Telecom that provides 14 digital channels at 16 frames per second for mobile users.
“We see (S.K. Telecom) as a shining example for mobile TV,” said Cole, adding that Korea will likely be a barometer for how such applications will fare in the West. “We believe (traditional) broadcasting is the right way. … In Asia, in four or five months, we’ll know the answer.”
Before U.S. carriers can capitalize on whatever demand exists, though, they’ll need satellites to help carry the burden on infrastructure, Cole warned.
“You have to be enabled by satellite for (mobile video broadcasts) to really work,” he said. “It really helps the signal, and it doesn’t mess with the capacity of the network.”
Cole concedes that such satellite launches are several years out, however. In the meantime, some analysts believe the future of mobile video lies in the connective technology offered by 802.11.
With mobile video still in its infancy, any predictions about video content are very premature, said Richard Doherty, research director at the Seaford, New York-based Envisioneering Group.
“There are too few (video-capable) handsets out there for us to say” what consumers want, Doherty said. Still, with video beginning to boom, “the time for content developers to figure it out is very finite.”
Whether users want to watch comedy clips or “60 Minutes,” Idetic’s Alvelda said Sprint’s new service allows MobiTV to see first-hand how both types of mobile video are being received by consumers.
“Part of the reason we’re part of the product launch is that we want to see which one does better,” said Alvelda, adding that live broadcasts trounced other applications in focus groups last year.
Meanwhile, Idetic continues to move ahead with its original business model of providing live video content, and it will use $15 million in new investment capital to pursue agreements with other carriers.
“We’re growing at about two to three times our original forecasts,” Alvelda said. “You should expect to hear from us over the next quarter about new agreements both domestically and internationally.
