Would you watch TV on your phone?

When Sprint PCS first announced it was launching MobiTV -- television broadcasts to your cellular phone -- my knee-jerk reaction was to pooh-pooh it. Slow, jerky, boring television programs on a tiny screen. Not for me -- and not for just about anyone else, either.

But I know my knee-jerk reactions are often the reactions of a....jerk.

So I didn't want to write anything about the service until I tried it myself. I have a Sprint phone I'm testing, an Hitachi G1000 Pocket PC/camera phone, but it's not compatible with MobiTV.

Russell Beattie alerts me

But Russell Beattie, whom I consider a must-read for his wireless experiences, posted a review of MobiTV by another Weblogger, Neil Eyde.

Neil writes, "The audio quality is decent, but the picture is a bit choppy. However you definitely get the experience of watching TV. If you aren't in a decent Sprint service area, the results would probably make the experience frustrating and futile."

A co-worker of Russ' has MobiTV, and here's Russ' reaction, "Update: My coworker Joel signed up and it's *AWESOME!!!!!!!* I cannot believe 1) How easy it was to set up. 2) How great it looks 3) How good it sounds. It's an *unbelieveably* cool app. Jaw-droppingly good. Everyone here in the office - who all have seen some cool apps - were pretty floored. Live TV on your phone via J2ME?!? Incredible.

"This is the first time I've ever seen anything on a CDMA phone that's made me want to run out and get one *right now*. When do we get that service on GPRS?!?!?"

Does it make sense?

MobiTV isn't cheap. It costs $9.95 per month plus the $15 per month you need to pay for data service.

LCD TVs haven't been huge sellers. Who carries them? Perhaps if you're a sports fanatic you carry one to games to listen to the commentary. But most people don't carry a TV, even the small LCD devices.

But you do carry a cellular phone. And if you have a camera phone, you carry a camera, too, because it's simply part of the phone you carry for voice calls. Well, now, that same phone also could be a TV. You might not want to carry a dedicated TV, but you don't have to -- you'll have one with you.

Filling leisure time

If you're waiting -- for a bus, a train, a plane, standing in line at the motor vehicle office, etc. -- and you're bored out of your mind, maybe you'd consider MobiTV. There are 13 channels now, but if it catches on, there'll be many more.

Knee-jerk reactions are dangerous. I'm not going to predict MobiTV's death. There are too many variables. After all, a few years ago, who would have predicted the success of SMS or camera phones?

Camera phones? Tiny, poor resolution photos? Who would want THAT?

Comments

[Michael Moore]

Tv on my SprintPCS vision Sanyo5300? I had an earlier version offered in 2003 which showed aprox. 1 image each 10 seconds (like a slide show)it was $4.95 per month (which I discontinued after the first month) it pretty much sucked. I might sign up for this more advanced streaming video version when they support more programs like sci-fi, hbo, showtime! The $9.95 puts it just beyond my current budget, though!!!

[isaac]

i want to know how you are dealing with customers,my master ask me to find out if you seller phones to customer who pay by card and if you do ship to nigeria
we will be grateful if you respond in time.

[Karan]

I'm an AirTel subscriber,but Ican't view the movie today,although I have a HSCD Nokia 7600 phone (probably the only one in Delhi who does!;)
I wish they streamed the movie to non EDGE phones as well.
Way to go AirTel!Live on!

[soul]

this ain't a comment but i'de really like to download mobitv on my phone i have a nokia 6600 but im still wondering if it'll work on my pone because im in mali so, if the mobitv is working with internet it wont work here so you know a application that work with fm i mean a fm tv on my mobile phone if you know one please send me the link to download it...
Thanks

[PokerLT]

Im using Nokia 6600 and now I got problem... when Im trying to open gallery I need to wait a long time but not nothing... always loading...