Multimedia phones to shake broadcast media

SYDNEY, Australia — Much like what the In-ternet has done to print media, high-powered multimedia mobile phones now offer consumers an alternative medium to access information and entertainment content from television and radio broadcast networks.

Live TV in your pocket is now a reality in some parts of the world such as Finland, Singapore, Australia and Malaysia where Nokia has made true its last year’s promise to conduct trials of Mobile TV broadcasting technology called DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld).

The inevitable coming of Mobile TV further crystallized with the launch here last week of the Nokia N92, the world’s first handset with a built-in DVB-H receiver that will allow consumers to watch and record live digital TV broadcasts even while they are mobile. The N92 makes watching regular TV programs no different from traditional set-top TV; only that with a 2.8-inch screen you have to be close to view them. What it lacks in screen size, however, is offset by the screen’s anti-glare feature and a resolution that packs 16 million colors.

"Nokia is giving infotainment a makeover… The new world of consumer media that gives rich multimedia experience is becoming a reality. No one imagined this five years ago. Convergence is about to be a reality," said Tyler McGee, Nokia’s vice president for customer and market operations in Southeast Asia.

By 2010, that reality should be a common experience for the projected three billion people around the world who would constantly use mobile devices in their daily lives. In the meantime, the momentum around convergence can also be measured based on the global sales of mobile devices. Of the more than 780 million handsets sold so far this year, McGee said over 100 million are camera phones and some 40 million have integrated music players.

"TV being a more popular medium will allow Mobile TV to take off in 2006 which would allow unique viewing patterns. By 2008, we might be watching the Beijing Olympics on our mobile phones," added McGee.

There are presently two billion people around the world who regularly watch TV and one billion viewers more will come by the end of the decade. This can also be the market that awaits Mobile TV which, when it happens, signals another paradigm shift akin to when mobile phones allowed people to call a person and not a location. This time, Mobile TV will allow broadcasting of content to individuals’ phones wherever they are and not to specific locations where a set-top box is, said Richard Sharp, Nokia’s vice president for rich media.

"Markets are opening up for Mobile TV. We will make it a standard feature in our multimedia devices. From a hardware perspective we project to have 70 million (Mobile TV-enabled devices) by the end of the decade," added Sharp.

Early market test and research generally got positive feedback, Sharp said. In Finland where 500 people participated in a trial run of Mobile TV, 58 percent said they are interested in using the service, 50 percent said a 10 euro monthly fee is acceptable, while 41 percent said they would buy or subscribe to it.

In Malaysia, 90 percent of the trial users also expressed willingness to pay for the service, said Sharp.

The Philippines, however, doesn’t seem any near this next great TV moment. Neither Nokia nor any of the cellular phone companies and broadcast companies has announced testing of Mobile TV here in the near future.

Probably the closest the country has experienced in terms of watching TV programs on mobile phones is through MyGlobe G-TV which was launched late last year, if not early this year. Globe Telecom, in its official website, claimed that MyGlobe G-TV is the first Mobile TV service in the country, delivering "live" streaming service from TV networks ABS-CBN and GMA-7.

But video streaming is not the same with Mobile TV delivered via DVB-H, which doesn’t need cellular technology to deliver the content onto a Mobile TV-enabled phone. In the case of Nokia, it makes use of its Mobile Broadcast Solution Release 3.0 which can carry up to 50 channels of content, broadcast one-way over DVB-H to the mobile phone. A cellular network then delivers it to different parts of the network or to individual local markets.

Globe Telecom understands that it cannot deliver Mobile TV on the DVB-H frequency yet due to the absence of key industry factors.

"Mobile TV in the context of 3G service is something we cannot offer until we have the authorization and the partnerships with the TV networks," said Jones Campos, head of Globe Telecom’s public affairs division.

Broadcast and telecom network operators are also expected to face the thorny issues of revenue-sharing and billing because, as mentioned, Mobile TV can do without the latter’s network to happen.

"Technically, you can view Mobile TV programs using a broadcast network’s service only and not the carrier, but it may not be commercially possible," admitted Sharp.

In the case of MyGlobe G-TV, the operator institutionalized a P10/kb charge to a postpaid subscriber’s bill for every locally produced TV program of both ABS-CBN and GMA "mobilecast" on G-TV during the actual time that they’re being broadcast over local television.

Whether this similar charging scheme will continue when Mobile TV via DVB-H becomes available here is anybody’s guess at this point.

Visual Radio

Music has also become a significant revenue driver for phone makers like Nokia. Knowing this, Nokia reported progress on its efforts to push Visual Radio with 12 devices supporting it already.

Visual Radio redefines the mobile FM radio experience not just for listeners but also for radio stations, advertisers and operators. With Visual Radio, images and text can be synchronized with the radio broadcast to bring information and interactivity directly to a mobile phone.

Visual Radio works by allowing broadcasters to create and publish interactive visual content to complement existing FM broadcasts. Listeners can use their Visual Radio-enabled handsets to tune in via the FM receiver on their phone, while viewing and interacting with the visual channel over the mobile network.

Jawahar Kanjilal, Nokia’s director for rich media, music and games business for the Asia-Pacific market, said they expect Visual Radio receiver installations to reach 100 million units by the end of 2006.

Two years ago, TeliaSonera Finland became the first operator in the world to offer Visual Radio. The United Kingdom had its first Visual Radio-enabled station last year through Virgin Radio. Also last year, a pilot test was conducted by Nokia with MediaCorp Radio Singapore and Starhub, which has now become a commercial service in the island state.

But what gets the market more excited at present are MP3 phones. Rivaling traditional makers of MP3 players, Nokia has made its Nseries phones highly capable of rich audio quality and capacity. The Nokia N91, for example, can carry up to 3,000 songs in its 4GB drive, said Kanjilal.

Nokia also introduced a feature brand, XpressMusic, to help consumers identify Nokia handsets that are music-optimized. But Nokia is not going to offer audio content but merely the platform and tools, stressed Mauro Montanaro, Nokia’s vice president for multimedia for the Asia-Pacific. "We are not going to provide an iTunes kind of service but we will make sure we support all music file formats so people can connect to all formats they want," he added.

Indeed, music is now a strong acquisition driver for mobile phones. For Nokia the sound of music promises to move 40 million devices with integrated music players this year.