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Arima pushes forward TV Handsets by Integrating SMS With Telegent FTA Mobile TV Feature

Categories: Mobile TV
By: , IntoMobile
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 7:09 AM

 

arima-sms-tvTelegent Systems and Arima Communications Corp., a leading Taiwanese handset ODM company, have announced that Arima has enhanced its free-to-air TV handset design incorporating Telegent’s mobile TV technology to enable consumers tosend and receive SMS messages while watching live, free broadcast TV.

The SMS-TV feature, which will be commercially available in handset designs this summer, is targeted towards consumers who want to chat with one another while watching their favorite programs as well as those who like to interact with participation TV programs through voting or polling. Additionally, the design enables operators to use free-to-air mobile TV to generate revenue from related phone services.

Could this be the fabled Mobile TV business model making an appearance? Up til’ now, it’s been absent, other than some suggestions that advertising could provide revenues – but the use of integrated messaging whilst watching TV is much stronger. Of course, the idea isn’t new – some adult channels on the normal tellybox have had people texting in for years …!
At any rate, if you want to know more about this feature, click here.

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.