Let me ask you a question. How many of you would be willing to
watch TV on your mobile phone? If this question surprises you, chances
are that you haven't heard of mobile TV yet.
Mobile phone is fast becoming a multifaceted device and watching TV on mobile phones could become as common as sending a text message in future. And, by future, I don't mean to say 20 years from now or something like that. Just five years from now, mobile TV will be worth a whopping $40 billion. Hard to believe? Let's get down to some numbers.
1. By 2010, there will be 600 million mobile internet connections in the world - even more than the number of fixed broadband connections.
2. Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), which is considered the hottest thing now, will pale in comparison to mobile TV by 2010. IPTV is projected to have around 50 million subscribers by 2010 whereas mobile TV is projected to have around 250 million subscribers by 2010 - five times more than that of IPTV.
Why is mobile TV considered the next big thing? Simple. It providers value to mobile users. The ability to catch your favorite TV shows in real time when you are on the move is what mobile TV can offer you.
Now, are you wondering like 'why would I watch TV on my mobile phone when I can well and truly watch TV at home?' Good question. Let me explain why.
Life has become very, very fast paced these days. Most people simply don't have the time to get their daily dosage of entertainment, news, sports, and other things by reading newspapers and magazines, watching TV, or even surfing websites. Instead, they depend on their mobile phones. Today, you can get news, sports updates, music, weather forecast, and a truckload of other services right on your mobile phone. It's way easier for someone to catch the headlines of the day by clicking a key on his mobile phone while he's on the train than to sit in front of TV for half an hour or read newspapers which take a lot of time. Don't you agree?
So, if you can have music, news, email, sports updates, and video on your mobile phone, why not TV? Going by this logic, some mobile operators have already started their own mobile TV service. Both Verizon and AT&T have launched their own mobile TV service and trust me, this is only the beginning. As of now, you have to pay a fixed monthly fee to use their mobile TV service. However, we could soon have free mobile TV service. Want to know how?
It's possible through something called advertising. Advertising on mobile phones is considered the hottest trend today and since mobile TV is a highly interactive medium, advertisers are willing to spend huge sums of money on ad spots in mobile TV. What this means to operators is that they can cover their costs by selling ad spots in mobile TV. What this means to mobile users like you and me is that soon we may not have to pay for mobile TV as the costs will be taken care of by advertisers.
So, simply put - we'll have high quality media content right on our mobile phones soon, that too completely free of cost. How does that sound?
PS: Are you still skeptical about the future of mobile TV? Are you still thinking like 'why would I watch TV on mobile phone, it sounds highly unlikely' or something like that? Well; don't worry. You're not alone. Even my dad, few years back, used to tell me something like 'how can someone make money by building a search engine?' The search engine he was talking about has managed to make a dollar or two today. It goes by the name Google.
Mobile phone is fast becoming a multifaceted device and watching TV on mobile phones could become as common as sending a text message in future. And, by future, I don't mean to say 20 years from now or something like that. Just five years from now, mobile TV will be worth a whopping $40 billion. Hard to believe? Let's get down to some numbers.
1. By 2010, there will be 600 million mobile internet connections in the world - even more than the number of fixed broadband connections.
2. Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), which is considered the hottest thing now, will pale in comparison to mobile TV by 2010. IPTV is projected to have around 50 million subscribers by 2010 whereas mobile TV is projected to have around 250 million subscribers by 2010 - five times more than that of IPTV.
Why is mobile TV considered the next big thing? Simple. It providers value to mobile users. The ability to catch your favorite TV shows in real time when you are on the move is what mobile TV can offer you.
Now, are you wondering like 'why would I watch TV on my mobile phone when I can well and truly watch TV at home?' Good question. Let me explain why.
Life has become very, very fast paced these days. Most people simply don't have the time to get their daily dosage of entertainment, news, sports, and other things by reading newspapers and magazines, watching TV, or even surfing websites. Instead, they depend on their mobile phones. Today, you can get news, sports updates, music, weather forecast, and a truckload of other services right on your mobile phone. It's way easier for someone to catch the headlines of the day by clicking a key on his mobile phone while he's on the train than to sit in front of TV for half an hour or read newspapers which take a lot of time. Don't you agree?
So, if you can have music, news, email, sports updates, and video on your mobile phone, why not TV? Going by this logic, some mobile operators have already started their own mobile TV service. Both Verizon and AT&T have launched their own mobile TV service and trust me, this is only the beginning. As of now, you have to pay a fixed monthly fee to use their mobile TV service. However, we could soon have free mobile TV service. Want to know how?
It's possible through something called advertising. Advertising on mobile phones is considered the hottest trend today and since mobile TV is a highly interactive medium, advertisers are willing to spend huge sums of money on ad spots in mobile TV. What this means to operators is that they can cover their costs by selling ad spots in mobile TV. What this means to mobile users like you and me is that soon we may not have to pay for mobile TV as the costs will be taken care of by advertisers.
So, simply put - we'll have high quality media content right on our mobile phones soon, that too completely free of cost. How does that sound?
PS: Are you still skeptical about the future of mobile TV? Are you still thinking like 'why would I watch TV on mobile phone, it sounds highly unlikely' or something like that? Well; don't worry. You're not alone. Even my dad, few years back, used to tell me something like 'how can someone make money by building a search engine?' The search engine he was talking about has managed to make a dollar or two today. It goes by the name Google.
Krishnan is a blogger, content writer, and a wannabe internet
marketer who makes his living online. He is a mobile technology
enthusiast and likes to keep himself updated about the happenings in the
mobile advertising industry. He honestly believes that advertising on
mobile phones has great future and mobile phone will become a premier
advertising medium soon. He regularly blogs at http://www.cellphone-advertising.com/
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Krishnan_Dhandayuthabani
