Analysts' report shows lacklustre response to Mobile TV

24 July 2006 15:49 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The first consumer-based head-to-head study of the four mobile TV providers in the UK has found 3G-based Vodafone Live only just beats 2.5G-based ROK TV in terms of overall experience.

However, the research by Strategy Analytics Advanced Wireless Laboratory revealed that participants in their survey didn't overwhelmingly embrace the mobile TV technology.

None of the services, not even the top-rated Vodafone Live, received ratings higher than 65/100.

Reasons cited for the lacklustre response include "poor perceived audiovisual quality and device limitations".

The head-to-head only had 34 participants, whom the writers of the report describe as "advanced wireless applications users" – not your average Joe on the street, then.

The four mobile TV services that participants were asked to review and rate were Vodafone Live! Mobile TV, MobiTV from Three, ROK TV, and Orange TV.

In the end, Orange TV couldn't be evaluated because of technical difficulties related to caching of video on two Nokia 6680 devices.

ROK TV has welcomed the news that its results put it second overall as it shows that its 2.5G technology is able to keep up with or surpass the quality of 3G.

"It's all due to the technology we've created which allows for the deliver of multi-channel mobile TV to the mass-market right here, right now", said Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman and CEO of ROK.

After participating in the study, users felt that improvements needed to be made in picture quality and network performance in order for them to use Mobile TV regularly.

The summary of the report also says that a significant barrier to the adoption of Mobile TV is whether or not people had the time or the inclination to watch it.

Full tags

Phones, Apps, Mobile phone TV, Vodafone, ROK TV