BT developing hardware for cellphone digital video service
Every now and then, something happens to prove that, as backwards as the U.S. is when it comes to cellphone technology, other countries have their share of glitches as well. Case in point: while American cellphone customers are able to get video-on-demand through services like Verizon's V CAST, in the U.K., customers waiting for BT's more ambitious digital cellphone media service have been left in the lurch as BT scrambles to develop its own hardware platform (to be fair, we should mention that other U.K. providers like 3 Mobile already offer video). While BT Livetime sounds impressive — it's slated to include Sky news, a music video channel and 50 digital radio stations — BT hasn't been able to line up any handset makers to produce phones that will work with the service. So, for an upcoming trial, the company is hacking together custom Windows-based smartphones to be built by Taiwan's HTC. Of course, if the service catches on, we'll no doubt see Livetime handsets from major players. In the meantime, we'll check for updates via CNN on our V CAST phone.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
