Mobile TV “distant dream” in India, says OnMobile CEO
By Ben Robinson on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 1:09 PM PST In Mobile TV
Commentary:
Reading an interview with Arvind Rao (who is the CEO of OnMobile) on Telecom Tiger, he states that he is not very bullish about Mobile TV in the short-term, because of the investment required, the small screens involved, and also the number of handsets that support it.
This actually is one of the few less positive stories I have seen about Mobile TV on the interweb recently – most have been (very) optimistic about the kinds of numbers (volumes, revenues, usage) that M-TV is going to generate. To be fair, the comments are only in respect of India, but they are the same detracting comments that are given by some commentators for other markets/regions.
The bottom line with M-TV is that it has the potential to be huge, and if does blow up, then there are a host of associated VAS revenues to be had also – those in turn will stimulate the ecosystem in to creating even more innovative and interactive services for users.
The “viewing” public is changing – Scheduled, lean-back TV is slowly becoming less relevant, as disruptive technologies (both in the home and outside of it) are growing – time-shifting, place-shifting, and personalisation are all playing roles in re-defining the viewing experience – this is already confirmed – the question is, does (Broadcast) Mobile TV, as it is composed right now, have a valid place to fit in the new model of rich media consumption?
Thoughts please…..
Let them first get complete gsm coverage here in india !!
i got poor signal even in some parts of major cities ..
leave alone villages..
Do they really have the spectrum for mobiletv ?
The CEO is right. It’s not just the small screen, you can’t even use apps like Shozu or Qik or Nokia Podcasting because the connection is slow and expensive. There’s really a long way to go.