Sending photographs to your friends and downloading the latest music through your mobile phone may seem like the cutting edge, but the best is yet to come.
We are standing on the edge of an era when the mobile phone will revolutionise the way consumers receive their media – quite simply, it will become the pre-eminent device for interaction and entertainment.
I'm not just talking about a new dimension to any time, anywhere entertainment – this "more real than reality TV" content will become cult viewing.
One of the mobile phone's greatest boons is that mobile service providers have created a strong, secure payment infrastructure that has been adopted internationally.
Mobile operators are offering a raft of payment options that enable content providers to interact with the consumer simply and, critically, at a very low cost per transaction.
And today, that content includes TV programmes.
Java still rules
Despite the lack of 3G networks – the technology widely expected to underpin mobile TV – high quality TV channels delivering music, cult soaps and weather, for example, are available on any Java-enabled phone.
The appeal of TV on the move is not new. Early attempts at tiny, portable TVs stretch back as far as the 1980s. Yet such products have always failed to take off due to the quality of service and complexity associated with charging users for the programmes watched.
Just as many old radio shows cannot be transferred to the internet today due to limitations of the contracts written decades before the technology was conceived, the challenges associated with licensing content for mobile transmission have been a major stumbling block.
Is today's mobile generation now ready for sitcoms on the run? Indeed, realistically, will today's terrestrial TV channels transfer to the mobile device?
The technology is undoubtedly viable on modern phones, but content owners will have some serious negotiations to undertake to address licensing complexities.
Content is key
Programme content will, of course, be key to the success of mobile TV.
Should mobile TV simply replicate fixed services, accommodating the expected delay while legal matters are resolved, or should it use the medium to deliver a new style of content that reflects the interests of the prime 15-25 mobile population?
Mobile TV has the potential to deliver new, revolutionary content that will extend the entertainment concept rather than extending the ways in which we can view traditional TV.
Indeed, if content providers embrace the opportunities mobile TV delivers, the long term implications for traditional TV programming will be significant, as consumer demands shift and evolve.
So what can content providers offer the consumer today?
At a basic level, using existing Java-enabled phones, users can download video clips up to 30 seconds long.
Far more interesting for content providers and users is the use of streaming technology.
Using a player – technology which is increasingly bundled with new phones – users can access large numbers of TV channels. Critical for content providers is the use of middleware that ensures programmes are player independent, since no one player has yet attained market domination.
With this in place, content providers can leverage the robust billing engines used by mobile operators to deliver a raft of programmes to the customer base.
New channel
Mobile TV gives content providers, media organisations and marketing companies access to a new communication channel.
As a first step, organisations can leverage existing internet content – from web cams to weather watch – delivering it, for profit, via the mobile network.
Using the strong mobile billing solutions, content providers can offer users a range of TV channels and access to archived material.
As with traditional broadcasts, content will be delivered to a pre-defined schedule and users will simply scroll around it to find the right channel.
Getting the pricing right will be important. In addition to a small, up-front registration fee, most providers should offer a mix of free and paid-for content to build up audience momentum.
One important factor for content providers is that mobile technology addresses the pressing issue of digital rights management (DRM).
Ensuring that content can be viewed once only and not replicated for unauthorised distribution is a major concern, particularly for those providing music channels. Using mobile TV, the content is downloaded and viewed once. It cannot be duplicated.
But if users are unable to view the latest episode of The Simpsons or EastEnders on a handset in the very near future, what will they be watching? Will they be watching at all?
Initially, mobile TV will undoubtedly create a cult audience. One Australian company has already committed to the medium for its numerous web cams, while another company is providing a music channel for unsigned artists.
Cult viewing
It will, however, be essential to create some cult TV viewing, particularly to appeal to the core 15-25 audience. And that means extending the reality TV concept. Innovative web cams and home-made soap operas can be transferred directly from the internet. Interest in these programmes should both generate revenue and propagate the concept, encouraging more content providers to deliver "more real than reality TV" programmes – all within the appropriate bounds of decency.
With the right cost model that combines free-to-air with paid-for channels, content providers have a low-cost route to a huge, untapped market.
The 15-25 bracket is already leading the way in buying ring tones, graphics and games via the mobile and is entirely comfortable with the use of the mobile as an entertainment device.
If the early content providers get the mix of price and programming right, it will be only a matter of time before owners of prime time TV content look to get into the market.
But is this television or simply an extension of the internet to the mobile phone?
Certainly, in its current incarnation, it is not broadband television. But replicating traditional TV is not the role the mobile should play. Such an approach undermines the mobile device's potential.
Mobile TV is not about simply replicating traditional TV content. Rather, this development marks the beginning of the mobile phone becoming the device of choice for a range of voice- and data based activities that will continue to transform the way in which we interact with people, information and entertainment services and that will have a significant effect on traditional TV broadcast content.
The mobile phone will become the primary interaction and entertainment device for the next decade – if the service providers get it right.
Graham Baines is managing director of global mobile entertainment provider Fonedream.
What's in it for advertisers?
With advertising revenues increasingly challenged by devices that enable the traditional TV viewer to cut out advertising altogether, is there an opportunity for media buyers to refocus their attention and leverage this burgeoning mobile TV market?
In fact, despite its ubiquity, the mobile phone has yet to attract the interest of the advertising industry, beyond a few "text if you're a winner" promotions.
The arrival of mobile TV, however, should transform the industry's investment in the medium, offering as it does an unprecedented opportunity for both targeting and direct interaction.
The advertising opportunities within mobile TV are diverse. Certainly many organisations will be looking at providing services akin to the digital TV "red button", enabling consumers to click through to additional product information.
But even more interesting will be the delivery of advertising that is more akin to traditional commercial television – but without the expense or lack of focus.
Such advertising can be streamed alongside any programme, video or clip to a filtered, pre-defined audience based on the message, profile and user demographic.
This can be enhanced through a WAP push or bookmark that takes the user direct to a site dedicated to that advert, providing the call to action that so few of the traditional, scattergun-based brand awareness adverts can deliver.
This model will require content creators to combine the increasing sophistication of web-based banners and download offers with traditional TV advertising to deliver information that attracts the relevant audience demographic and prompts that interaction.
And with no need for large production and broadcast budgets, the barriers to entry to this market are low.
With mobile manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung now actively promoting mobile TV, there is a clear opportunity for advertisers to get an early start with new, innovative campaigns that really grab the audience's attention.
Within 18 months, this medium will have become a standard and increasingly critical component of a brand's advertising portfolio.
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