Summary
1) Much of the analysis on TV- particularly mobile TV – completely misses the basics of good product innovation.
2) Mobile TV suffers from many technical issues - but consumer need is at the heart of the problem. Despite the availability and low price of portable TV units in the 1980s/90s - watching TV on a small screen - especially on the go – has no history of success.
3) We need to focus more on what consumers are demanding for their mobiles, for instance the explosion of mobile gaming in India.
4) The success of mobile music owes much to the success of Sony’s Walkman and other portable music devices in the 1980’s – given the consumer need to be occupied/entertained when ‘on-the-go’ with the simple delivery of a good experience.
Analysis
·Much of the analysis on TV- particularly mobile TV – completely misses the basics of good product innovation. Key to successful products, be they cutting-edge technology or supermarket based FMCG, lies in product development meeting the needs of consumers. Has anyone questioned why, for instance, Procter & Gamble is Europe’s largest recruiter of PhDs and Scientists who translate the consumer insights given to them by Brand Managers – and on the whole lead the categories that it operates in? There is much those in the technology industries can learn from good FMCG practice.
·The quantitative data may point to a mass of mobile phones worldwide, and qualitatively consumers want to be entertained. Indeed, reliability, quality and price may be the key issues that will limit mobile TV take up. However, despite the availability and low price of portable TV units in the 1980s/90s (Casio were a significant manufacturer) and the limited availability of mobile wrist watches, watching TV on a small screen - especially on the go – has no history of success.
·The only source of success of mobile TV in Europe to date has been the downloading of short video clips - be they music videos or more relevant, for instance, Hutchison 3UK’s Premiership football goal clips.
·Whilst, the bulk of analysts and the mobile industry is still trying to figure out the future of mobile TV. There are other markets that are developing applications relevant to local consumer insights that they are leveraging. For instance recent studies by Nokia and Pyramid Research show that Indian consumers have the double the propensity of UK consumers to play good quality mobile games. This is leading to an explosion of mobile gaming in India.
·The insights the world over for TV are that: a) a great, uninterrupted, responsive experience is required so as not to generate high cost customer service calls or annoyed and eventually lost subscribers, b) TV is generally a relaxed, social viewing experience, and c) requiring a significant screen for viewing (even small screens require at least Sony’s PSP quality screen).
·The high-quality experience that consumers expect begins with bandwidth, which, in turn, translates to scalability within the network. Today’s mobile networks were originally designed to deliver one-to-one services to subscribers. As a result, they have difficulty delivering bandwidth-consuming content to a large number of subscribers.
·If we look at the success of mobile music – download to Apple’s IPod as in USA or download to mobile phones as in Japan/South Korean – owes much to the success of Sony’s Walkman and other portable music devices in the 1980’s – given the consumer need to be occupied/entertained when ‘on-the-go’ with the simple delivery of a good experience. I do not recall a similar consumers need or usage from mobile TV or the potential in the medium term to simply, deliver a good visual experience!
