Friday, May 20, 2005
TheFeature :: Cell Phone Cinema
TheFeature :: Cell Phone Cinema: "From the talk coming out of the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment Expo in San Francisco last month, you'd think wireless providers were about to reap Hollywood-size revenues from new mobile TV and cinema applications. Although AT&T Wireless and Sprint are the only US operators currently offering mobile TV services, and consumer demand has yet to be determined, a number of reports are already enthusiastically hyping mobile TV as the killer app for wireless data , particularly for emerging 3G networks.
But there is a glaring blind spot in these reports: for all their focus on the technical, economic and financial aspects of streaming video technology, they are virtually ignoring the stuff that consumers are going to be exposed to - the actual content! Most cell phone video advocates seem to be assuming that content will consist of existing television programs, crunched down to fit into the inch-size screens of mobile phones. But that's hardly a way to launch an entirely new media platform. Luckily, there are a few people thinking a bit more creatively."
But there is a glaring blind spot in these reports: for all their focus on the technical, economic and financial aspects of streaming video technology, they are virtually ignoring the stuff that consumers are going to be exposed to - the actual content! Most cell phone video advocates seem to be assuming that content will consist of existing television programs, crunched down to fit into the inch-size screens of mobile phones. But that's hardly a way to launch an entirely new media platform. Luckily, there are a few people thinking a bit more creatively."
