Mobile Video, Part 2: Who Wants It?
By Brian McDonough
Wireless NewsFactor
August 29, 2001
In the first part of this three-part series, "Mobile Video, Part 1:
Ready or Not, Here It Comes?" Wireless NewsFactor explored
the current state of the technology and raised a big question: If
they build it, who will buy?
Part 2 of this series asks whether mobile video is more likely
to capture the hearts of suited executives -- ever alert for the
next new thing -- or the imaginations of the unwashed masses
who just want to have fun.
DoCoMo Leads Charge
The answers are different depending on which quadrant of the
globe you're standing on, of course. "Only when you get to
the consumer community do you get the large streams of users
that justify the number of companies trying to make
something of this," Internet Streaming Media Alliance board
member Satish Menon told Wireless NewsFactor.
Menon's observation may be true in Japan. Mobile video is
already off and running there, with NTT DoCoMo's Tuesday
announcement of a new platform that provides "one-to-many"
live video distribution to 3G (third generation) handsets.
DoCoMo said the new platform -- which delivers streaming
media using MPEG-4 technology -- is the first of its kind. It
was developed with U.S.-based PacketVideo under the terms
of an agreement the two companies signed in January.
Work, Not Play in the U.S.A.
Nowhere in the world is wireless as wildly popular as it is in
Japan, where DoCoMo's i-mode service enjoys a huge subscriber base. But the country's wireless craze is
heavily focused on entertainment uses like the ubiquitous FunMail application.
In the United States, where 3G has just graduated from a spark to a glimmer, some analysts say the best
prospects for making money the wireless way are enterprise-oriented. If corporate America can be sold on the
idea of equipping a mobile workforce with "anywhere, everywhere" technology, then the wireless industry
will be front and center during the next high-tech boom -- or so the logic goes.
A lot of energy is being directed toward getting streaming media onto handheld devices. Carriers want revenue
to pay for their astronomical 3G licenses, and streaming media providers want to help. The trouble is, it hasn't
been proven that customers -- whether corporations or individual consumers -- want such services, and it
really can't be proven until the networks and devices are available for tests of the services.
Waiting To Exhale
But with industry types working hard to get such services out there, the question is begged: Which group of
consumers is the wireless industry most actively courting with the promise of streaming video, and when will
it deliver on that promise?
In the short term, corporate apps are likely to roll out first in North America, where business users always lead
in wireless adoption. Everyone agrees that key vertical industries will benefit from wireless video, but there is
dissension over the likely appeal of consumer apps.
There are those who say consumer apps will never materialize, and niche business markets will make wireless
video into a quirky corporate specialty. Then there are those who agree that enterprises will be served by video,
but to a far lesser degree than consumers, for whom an explosion of services is predicted.
Business as Usual or Risky Business?
While sheer user numbers point to consumers as the larger potential market for video and other multimedia
services over wireless devices, most observers agree that Americans aren't ready to embrace high-end data
services -- especially since the needed networks and devices haven't quite made it to market yet.
If consumers aren't ready, that leaves the traditional leader in U.S. wireless adoption. "Perhaps in North
America [streaming media] will come through enterprise applications," said Menon, who is also vice president
of research and development at Kasenna, a broadband infrastructure software provider.
"I think the enterprise platform will catch on very strongly. There are a lot of efforts in the enterprise space,"
Menon said.
Cahners In-Stat Group analyst Gerry Kaufhold agreed that consumers will be latecomers to wireless
multimedia in the United States. He told Wireless NewsFactor that corporate users will have more motivation
to deal with services while they are still in rougher, early rollout phases.
Making It, Saving It
"Two things drive the business market: You're either saving somebody some money, or you're helping them
make more money through enhanced applications," Kaufhold said. He pointed to a number of mobile video
applications that can meet those needs, such as telemedicine or training -- whether in corporate matters or for
service personnel in the field who need refreshers on complex repairs.
"There are some interesting applications for high-value content, such as financial services-based
applications," Ian Freed, general manager of RealNetworks' mobile products and services group, told Wireless
NewsFactor. He cited "analyst conference calls for a particular industry, earnings calls [and] presentations by
tech companies to the business community."
Overhyped, Underdelivered
Hasn't video conferencing been pretty much a bust over the wired Internet, to say nothing of abortive
videophone technology?
"I think the specific application of two-way videoconferencing has always been overhyped and
underdelivered," Freed agreed. "People just don't get a lot of extra value from having two-way video,
compared to the trade-off in quality. But we've had tremendous success with [one-way] video broadcasting.
Compared to two-way video conferencing, it's a totally different animal."
Kaufhold pointed to uses within the scope of current networks and devices, citing a business application that
is first on a lot of observers' lips: "Security cameras. All you need is an always-on connection to the network.
That's very low-end, very easy to deploy."
Menon agreed. He sees such applications extending beyond the strictly corporate field. "I can see using [such
setups for] keeping an eye on your home, your children or your business," Menon said.
Total Eclipse?
Not everyone is waiting breathlessly for enterprise apps, however. PacketVideo president of applications and
services Rob Tercek told Wireless NewsFactor that he expects business applications to be valuable --
"There's no question they're going to be powerful," he noted -- but thoroughly eclipsed by the consumer
market.
Tercek attributed the current fascination with enterprise applications in the United States to investor fears
brought on by the shaky economic climate. "Given the meltdown of the consumer Internet in the last nine
months, financial firms demand an enterprise story," he said.
But the enterprise story is clearly just one chapter in the mobile video saga.
