DETROIT ? Cingular Wireless on Tuesday began selling MobiTV, making scores of shows available for $10 a month. In a week, Verizon’s $15-a-month vCast debuts in 32 cities and on a small number of devices. Video is coming to cell phones in a big way this year.
But the down side, however, is slow wireless networks mean customers may have to watch the video as a slide show, frame by frame, rather than in a continuous stream like TV.
Content ranges from a special version of Fox?s hit ?24? made for viewing on cell phones that runs from three to five minutes. Users also can connect to such popular channels as ABC, CNN and NBC and watch shows aired live. The carriers’ one-two punch will give 91 million more U.S. cell phone subscribers their first shot at sucking up TV on the run–if they get the right handsets.
CNET.Com reports cell phone operators are turning to TV to boost sales of wireless broadband services, meant to make up for revenue lost to price-cutting as years of aggressive competition drove down the cost of handsets and voice minutes. But U.S. sales of such features have been disappointing because, unlike in Asia and Europe, Americans are more apt to turn to their PCs to cruise the Internet. While both Verizon and Sprint say wireless data sales topped $1 billion last year, the revenue falls far short of that pocketed by carriers outside the United States.
Market analyst In-Stat gives such services in the United States a chance. Cell phone video generated a relative pittance, $32.7 million, in revenue last year for Sprint and AT&T Wireless. With Cingular and Verizon now entering the market, revenue should more than quintuple over the next four years, In-Stat believes.
