Although we’ve heard a numerous reports about the mobile TV prospects, most of them proved to be false. Outside of Japan and South Korea, people simply don’t use mobile TV, despite carriers’ efforts in some countries to push the service towards users.
Now we have another report, from ABI Research, suggesting that the market inhibitors are being addressed and worldwide adoption will accelerate starting in 2012 through 2015 when total market revenues are forecast to exceed $20 billion.
Among the reasons why mobile TV adoption has failed so far, the research company cites limited analog-to-digital TV transitions in most regions. However, there’s a hope as most developed countries will complete that transition by 2012.
Another reason for mobile TV failure so far is found in the 3G cellular service throughput and latency performance that are inadequate for mobile TV. With the deployments of 4G (LTE) networks in the next few years, that will change as well, enabling a significantly improved mobile TV experience.
Something tells me ABI has a point. I also think that with the rollout of LTE networks and more advanced devices, we’ll finally start seeing the wide adoption of mobile TV… You can get additional information from ABI Research’s report titled “Mobile TV Services.”