LDS Media Talk

In previous posts (see the-future-of-the-mobile-web and nearly-3-billion-mobile-phone-connections), I reported that projections shows that mobile phone subscribership worldwide will grow to 3 billion by 2007. That still seems on track; we have 2.6 billion now. Projections by iSuppli and others now are calling for 4 billion by 2010

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A recent study by comScore Networks across five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) and the USA showed that 29% of European Internet users regularly access the Internet from their mobile phones, while only 19% of US users do the same.

The highest mobile Web penetration was in Germany, Italy and the UK (at 34% each), followed by France and Spain.

It was evenly split between men and women.

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Watching TV on a mobile phone could get more interesting in 2007 with TiVo-like recording functionality. Texas Instruments is demonstrating PVR (personal video recording) capabilities for mobiles at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam this week. This will let you record a TV program on your mobile phone and watch it later. The TI package also has “picture-in-picture” capabilities, so you can watch a prerecorded program and also track a live sports event in a smaller, on-screen window. Read more at InfoWorld.

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The number of worldwide cellular phone connections is on track to hit 3 billion by the end of 2007, according to a forecast by the GSM Association and market analyst Ovum.

There are now 2.5 billion cellular connections, up from 1.5 billion at the start of 2004. That number increases at a rate of 40 million new connections every month.

Read more at InfoWorld.

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South Korea now has ONE MILLION mobile TV subscribers. On average, South Korean mobile TV subscribers watch about one hour of TV programming per day on their phones.

Japan entered the commercial mobile TV arena in March 2006.

China plans plans to have a robust mobile TV infrastructure in place for the Beijing Olympics.

The rub: all three countries are pursuing separate technical standards for mobile TV.

In-Stat figures there will be 100 million global mobile TV subscribers by 2010.

Read more at eMarketer.

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Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files over the Internet. It is a way to provide learning programs for personal computers and mobile devices so that the audience can listen to audio or video when they want, where they want, and how they want. These digital files can be downloaded and played on personal computers, MP3 players (like iPods—hence the name podcasting), or burned to CDs for listening on CD players.

Podcasts are often used in college classes and even by churches to provide religious broadcasts.

The Church already provides audio and video of general conference, and audio recording of monthly magazines and core curriculum manuals. These files can be streamed live or downloaded for later use. The quality of recordings of magazines and curriculum will be improved in the future with better voice talent.

What do you think about the idea of daily audio downloads of a portion of the Ensign, Liahona, New Era, or Friend magazine so you can listen through the magazine in the course of the month?

How about weekly audio downloads of the gospel doctrine lesson (including the scripture reading for the week, lesson manual, and any student supplemental material)?

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Notes from the 15th International World Wide Web Conference in Scotland (May 22-26, 2006):

• Mobile devices constitute the newest and biggest access media ever. There may be 3 billion cell phones by next year. It is estimated that in 2008, more people will access the Web on mobile devices than on computers.
• .mobi (dotMobi) is the new mobile-specific top level domain.
• Mobile devices are cheaper, always available, personalizable, and increasingly location-aware (GPS-enabled). Location-aware, combined with personal preference, opens a whole new world for context-specific content and services.
• The current adult generation thinks of the PC as their primary device for the Web, calendaring, contacts, etc. The younger generation primarily thinks of the mobile phone for these functions.
• We need better cooperation between the developer communities of the leading mobile players (device manufacturers, mobile operators and application and content developers) to identify open standards applicable to content and data services. We then need developer handbooks for the .mobi domain to ensure a better and more predictable user experience in accessing content and data services, regardless of operator, device, or platform.
• Context changes requirements. Mobile users today don’t “browse the Web.” They have a specific task, such as finding a flight arrival time or finding an address. The display on the mobile device needs to be adapted to this need, not just refactored from the original Web site. (Some disagree with this notion. Since this is such a new area, we really don’t know what the user needs. What about users who will never have a computer and the mobile device is their own access to the Web? Note that in 2005, more people in Japan accessed the Web with cell phones than with a computer.)
• Cost is a large factor. Mobile users in most countries don’t know how much their access of the Web will cost. It is typically expensive and variable by which sites you access.
• It is difficult and costly to develop content to work well on the wide variety of mobile devices. There aren’t nearly as many variations on computers.
• Compliance with standards is critical. We need to follow W3C standards religiously.
• Many of the performance and reliability issues have been solved, but it is still critical to follow Mobile Web Initiative standards and keep the content simple and uncluttered.
• See Yahoo! Go for an example of a company that shows how to access its content on the mobile, TV, computer, etc.

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In 2005, more people in Japan accessed the Web with cell phones than with a computer.

Learn more on InfoWorld.

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This blog includes my notes from (and thoughts about) a talk entitled “The New Economy – An Engineer’s Perspective” given by David Brown (Chairman of Motorola) at the 15th International World Wide Web Conference in Scotland (May 22-26, 2006).

People buy 900,000 mobile phones every 9.5 hours. Today they have the processing power of yesterday’s PC. They are the fourth screen (TV, desktop, car, phone) in the hands of 2 billion people. It is the fourth medium (newspaper, TV, Internet, phone). Why mobility is changing: digitization of everything, expansion of broadband, and the explosion of smart things. All these technologies need to be integrated seamlessly:

• Don’t take a network-centric view, but a user-centric view (continuity of experience). The content should adjust—the user shouldn’t have to adjust. The more personalizable the experience, the higher the value.
• Need user-centric content, privacy, safety, security, always on, full mobility.
• We are racing to offer more personalizable content. People value content that is personal and personalizable and provides a continuity of experience. Think of “a market of one.” Don’t try to standardize the continuity of experience; let each customer identify it for him/herself.
• Open standards and open platforms.
• Mobile Internet
• Service-level interoperability.
• Scalability. Today there are 30 billion Web sites. How many more will there be with mobile phone technology? A thousand times more? A million times more? Consumers will be offered many more choices than today. Organizations must learn this from their customers.
• Bridging the digital divide. In the UK, there are more mobile phones than there are people. Yet 2/3 of the world’s population has no mobile phone and no access to the Internet. How can we connect them? Can the economic benefits of bridging this divide be used to solve their education and other social problems? How can we make mobile devices available to them at ultra low cost? By 2008, the cost should be below $15. (See post lost-cost-phones-becoming-a-reality.)
• Regulation and taxation. We need to convince governments not to tax mobile devices as luxury devices. 20% of the cost of owning and using a mobile device goes to taxes. We also need to convince service providers to establish pricing plans that will encourage mobile Web access.

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