For many years, mobile telecommunication operators have been pushing mobile TV to 3G mobiles. Unfortunately for them, there has been a lot less support among consumers to watch video on those small screens.
Many issues were identified with Mobile TV, that prevented widespread adoption:
* Relatively expensive - typical from 50c to a few dollars to watch anything from one TV show, through to a monthly subscription.
* Poor 3G coverage - Particularly prevalent in the US (although an issue in most parts of the world), poor quality mobile broadband networks led to video stuttering or stopping mid-stream.
* Poor selection of content
* Content was not tailored to support the "mobile context" - ie: I'm on the bus and want to watch a cut down version of my favourite show from last night, etc...
Joost recently announced that their iPhone application had been installed more than 1 million times (
http://mashable.com/2009/01/30/at-least-joost-is-doing-well-on-the-iphone/). This would indicate that it is now accessible to a large proportion of people. However, if we look at the issues above, how many does Joost address:
* Relatively expensive - check - the Joost app is Free
* Poor 3G coverage - the Joost app is prone to the same issues
* Poor selection of content - while broader than most mobile operator's catalogues, the Joost selection is still somewhat smaller than competitor, Hulu
* Content not tailored for the "mobile context" - Joost is simply streaming its desktop content to the iPhone
It appears that Joost doesn't really address 3 of the 4 issues that's limiting Mobile TV to take off. I find it hard to believe that users will forego these issues, if the application is free.
Maybe Joost isn't the nirvana of Mobile TV!
In a move that could spell even lower value perception by consumers for online media content, Mashable reports that CBS's Les Moonves is hinting that the price point for television programs may be lowered to $0.99 saying, "There are certain shows that will be sold on Apple for 99 cents."
