Disqus
LG has announced that it is launching the KB770 (with Free-to-air DVB-T tuner) in to Germany, a market awash it seems with DVB-T capable Mobile devices. For those of you that don’t read IntoMobile so often (shame shame shame on you!), Germany has a unique situation where the DVB-T spec was modified to allow mobile devices to access the transmissions from the beginning – at odds with pretty much everywhere else in Europe.
Interestingly, the view of a company called Telegent is that Mobile TV should have a free-to-air element in order to stimulate usage. In Germany of course this is less of an issue since the infrastructure exists – so it’s just a handset SKU addition. But with DVB-H, an entire network has to be rolled out – so you can imagine there are not many keen on doing “free” Mobly TV!
However, I do take Telegent’s point as a very good one – certainly stimulating interest and demand is important, and something that DVB-H commercial services (in general) could definitely do with.
I’ve got to wonder what the eventual business model is going to be for a (successful) Mobly TV service – I haven’t seen one to-date that gives you the “ah, yes, that’s it” moment – meanwhile, those continental cousins over in Germany are getting to use cool handsets, with even cooler services! It’s not fair, wah!!!
[Original story via: broadcastbuyer.tv]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
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