The FT.com has an article talking about how iPlayer, in it’s many mobile guises is helping to drive the adoption and usage of Mobile video.
As you may or may not know, iPlayer is the BBC’s online VoD catch-up service, and given the quality of their programming, it’s becoming an InterWeb dynamo – much to the chagrin of ISPs in the UK! Well, they might become even more frustrated, as if Mobile usage takes off, some of it will surely be via WiFi from Mobile devices, into home ADSL routers – the rest I’d imagine via 3G.
The Beeb had released a couple of dedicated Mobile clients initially – an iPhone which only streams (due to DRM licensing issues from Apple), and an N96 one that allows you to download programmes – I’ve used both and they are great, but now more devices are getting iPlayered-up!
Of course, the thing that’s notably absent when we talk about TV and Mobiles, is any form of broadcast – as well as the MASSIVE cost of rolling out broadcast networks, user demand seems to be for (good quality) “On-Demand” viewing – which is exactly what iPlayer supplies.
I strongly suspect in the coming months the BBC will announce other platforms on which iPlayer is working, and within that you can bet there will be some Nokias, and probably a Korean handset vendor or two – Samsung and LG never like to miss a trick, as their YouTube access integrations proved over the last couple of years.
I’d suggest having a read of the FT.com article, it’s well written and covers some other points – you can find it here.
[Via: FT.com]