WITH BILLIONS BEING SPENT today to deploy systems capable of delivering video to mobile devices, the word "mobile" doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as "cellular," cautions research firm In-Stat.
New technologies and business models are now under development that may threaten mobile operators’ ability to profit from video content, the high-tech market research firm says. It likens the current state of that market to the late 1990s when 3G was being deployed,
"Cellular operators may find that consumers won’t be as interested in their video offerings once other types of service are available," says David Chamberlain, In-Stat analyst, in a press release.
"Of the five methods of mobile video delivery studied in a recent In-Stat report, two operate outside the current cell phone ecosystem, and a third "out-of-band video" seems to be allied to mobile operators for commercial convenience, not technological necessity." All three, Chamberlain says, could bypass mobile operators altogether.
In-Stat also found the following:
* Free-to-air mobile video, being considered by broadcasters, could disrupt other video services associated with cellular operators.
* Tech-savvy users’ interest in time- and place-shifting services from Orb and Sling Media threaten to bypass operators’ walled gardens.
* Even though video that can be delivered entirely from within the operators’ walled gardens was first to market, it suffers from general user apathy, according to an In-Stat survey of U.S. mobile users.
