Streaming Media - 2008 Industry Sourcebook - (Page 39) time has come today: mobile video year review in Who won, who lost, and what did we learn in the wake of the iPhone? by Jose Castillo m ost experts agree that 2007 was the year that mobile video became a reality. Statistics bear this out: Mobile phone penetration has reached the point at which 72% of adults in North America own a mobile phone, and more than half of all North American households boast two or more phones, according to Forrester Research’s Benchmark 2007 report, “Mobile’s the Most Mainstream.” More to the point, according to Telephia/Nielsen Mobile, between 2006 and 2007, mobile video revenues grew an astounding 198%. What’s behind this growth? For years we have heard about how we would all be watching videos on our mobile phones, but there have been problems with small screens, slow delivery, lack of content, and poorly designed devices. This year was the first time that I actually bought a movie, created a video worth watching, and watched live TV all from my various mobile devices. This “year in review” is no preview of things to come; at last, we can talk about a breakthrough in technology adoption that has actually happened, as opposed to one that pundits promise is right around the corner. In 2007, we had a flurry of new devices from the iPhone to the Nokia N95, the variety of content grew exponentially from major network shows to user-generated content, and the list of services for mobile video spanned from content providers to video creation and submission tools. It’s not surprising to see Forrester Research report that the mobile phone has become the “the most ubiquitous personal technology in North America,” but it is something that bears reiteration. We have the internet to thank for the growth of video in the last 5 years, but as we become a more mobile society, the devices we use to consume our video have become smaller and more portable. That large screen in our house is still our favorite way to watch video, but as the devices have gotten better, more and more people are watching (and creating) video on-the-go. So let’s talk about who were the big winners, who were the big losers, and what 2007 taught us about the state of mobile video. What devices captured our eyes, which ones blinded us, and what did we learn? WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM 39 industry update http://WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM
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