BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts
Bright future for mobile phone TV
By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-02 05:31
With media companies still reeling from Focus Media's legendary listing
on the NASDAQ last July, mobile phone TV has been hailed as a possible
breakthrough media, capable of crowning the industry's next king.
"Mobile phone TV could very possibly hold the key to becoming the newest
star," Liu Wenze, business development director of Shanghai Dragon Mobile
Media Corp, said during the Mobile Multimedia Applications Conference
yesterday in Beijing.
Liu said mobile phone TV could well grow into a fifth powerful medium
after newspapers, TV, radio and the Internet.
"The Chinese are spending more money in the entertainment sector,
contributing enormously to a prosperous advertising market," he said.
As the latest fashionable media, mobile phone TV has development
potential because of its portability and its lack of age limitations even
children carry phones now.
China has more than 430 million mobile phone users, and conference
participants regard the country as one of the world's most promising
markets for mobile TV and other value-added wireless services.
With the standard for broadcasting signals to mobile phones, which was
developed in China, taking effect yesterday, the mobile TV industry took
another step forward.
But even with the standard in place, "without the full support of mobile
operators and production companies, public acceptance of mobile TV will
be slow," warned Chen Tongxing, vice-president of Mobile Multimedia Co
Ltd.
Major mobile service providers, such as China Mobile and China Unicom,
have already set up mobile TV systems of their own, but use other
specifications. Adapting to the new standard will take time.
"Few people are willing to invest in the new standard," Chen said.
"Different technologies and standards have been adopted by phone makers
and mobile TV providers, creating barriers to making the service popular.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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