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LG announces 9400 with MediaFLO, sort of
Wait wait wait, LG, let's be sure we have this straight: you've gone ahead and distributed pictures of the rumored 9400 with your CES press kit, but you make positively no mention of it in your press release. Didn't something just like this happen at CTIA with the VX8600? Either you've truly mastered the fine art of brilliant viral marketing, or you've accidentally announced yet another critical phone in Verizon's lineup early. Our money's on the latter. Anyhoo, here's the 9400 finally in all its blur-free glory, finally ushering in the age of mobile TV stateside. Though it's not branded as a Verizon release, we know from our candid shots that it's due up as a launch device for the imminent unveiling of Big Red's MediaFLO network -- possibly as soon as this afternoon at Verizon's press event. As always, we'll keep ya posted; in the mean time, check after the break for some more eye candy.
LG's VX9400 on Verizon MediaFLO spotted again
Now honestly, what do you think about all this activity surrounding the LG VX9400 on Verizon -- which is due to launch its MediaFLO service any time -- cropping up right before CES? What do you want to bet Verizon announces rollout and this thing is one of the launch devices? Gentleman's wager, sirs and misses? [Thanks, Devin]
Verizon Wireless to launch Mobile TV soon?
With rumors flying like hotcakes about Verizon Wireless, their much anticipated Rev. A network's launch date, and MediaFLO, we thought it would only be fair to add more fuel to the fire. According to a post from Howard Forums, it shows the big V planning on releasing Mobile TV on January 30th in correspondence with a flurry of hints given by Qualcomm regarding their release of MediaFLO. Our guess is that in the coming weeks before and during CES you'll see announcements regarding handset availability and channel lineups. [Thanks, TheStone41]
T-Mobile hits up MediaFLO for mobile TV trial
We have to hand it to 'em, T-Mobile's gotta be given some credit for doing their homework in the whole mobile TV biz. It turns out that their trial agreement with Hiwire really is just that -- a trial -- and success won't guarantee them T-Mobile's signature on the dotted line. Besides working with both Hiwire and Modeo, the States' number four carrier has now hooked up with Qualcomm's MediaFLO folks, too, giving them the trifecta (if you will) of mobile TV partnerships. Though Qualcomm is more strongly associated with CDMA, GSM carriers have no particular reason to shy away from MediaFLO since the TV system is disjoint from CDMA itself. So far, T-Mobile's been low-key about naming a winner, which makes sense: the Vegas-based Hiwire trial hasn't yet begun and the MediaFLO trial (location unknown) is apparently still underway.[Via MocoNews]
Verizon Samsung U620 loaded up with MediaFLO mobile TV
Hang on to your handsets, fellas, because we've got a hot one that's just come over the transom. Verizon's going to be releasing a slider called the U620, which will come with VCAST Mobile TV, the rebranding of the MediaFLO mobile television service that is poised to go tête à tête with Vue. Beyond that, you've got some EV-DO data, stereo Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel cam, a MicroSD card slot, and speech-to-text voice recognition action up in there as well. While this scant info may just seem like a tease, it's all we've been able to glean from the depths of the interwebs for the time being -- as usual, we'll update as best we can.
MediaFLO gets FCC green light
Although we're sure MediaFLO holds plenty of promise as a downlink-only TV mobile TV delivery platform, the folks over at Qualcomm wouldn't be doing much of anything with the technology -- here in the US, anyway -- without the requisite bandwidth. Happily, that's one hurdle they can now put behind them, as the FCC has granted MediaFLO the right to broadcast on TV channels 54, 55, or 56 ahead of the digital TV transition scheduled to complete on February 17, 2009. The feds came to their decision (a wise one, if we do say so ourselves) after drawing the conclusion that FLO broadcasts would have little or no ill effect on existing TV or DTV broadcasts on those channels, opening the door for mobile TV goodness just as soon as everyone can get on the same page and get some equipment and content out the door. Of course, if we discover that our beloved PBS is starting to get snowy as a result of this newfangled FLO business, we'll be having a few choice words.[Via The Wireless Report]
Qualcomm wrangles three mobile TV standards into one chipset
Qualcomm has announced its Universal Broadcast Modem, a mobile TV chipset supporting DVB-H, ISDB-T, and Qualcomm's own FLO technology alike. The UBM, as it's known, is not dependent on a Qualcomm device chipset, which should help ease adoption. Sadly, samples won't be available to manufacturers until 2007, meaning we have a long haul ahead of us before we see devices using the technology. Although we think it's awfully big of Qualcomm to swallow its pride and bundle support for competing technologies with FLO, we'd rather see more standardization instead -- heck, we don't even have any one of these three available to consumers in the States yet. [Via Phone Scoop]
Nokia and Digita Oy team-up to deliver DVB-H in Finland
You've heard of Nokia's DVB-H handsets (N92 to right) for months, but did you know they're also a major player behind the scenes? Nokia just inked a deal in their native Finland to supply Digita Oy with their MBS 3.0 service management platform for DVB-H mobile TV services. Nokia's MBS delivers consumer necessities such as an interface for searching services, an EPG, and the ability to set alerts for upcoming programs in addition to packing-in industry faves like OMA DRM 2.0 to protect content which can be offered within flexible pricing schemes. Digita, which already purchased those precious broadcast frequencies earlier this year, will operate the network and offer-up broadcast services to the likes of cellphone operators. Mobile TV services are expected launch later this year reaching 29% of the Finnish population by the end of 2006. So next time you hear Nokia slaggin' off DMB or Qualcomm's technically superior FLO mobile TV standards, well, now you know why. [Via Textually.org]
Consumers are/aren't hot for mobile TV, Part V
Like those Jupiter Research survey results we've seen before, Amberlight consultancy firm tells us that consumers do indeed want mobile television. However, they are put-off by poorly designed devices and lackluster services associated with those 3G streaming TeeVee solutions. They found current offerings to suffer from patchy 3G reception, slow startup times ranging from 2 and 5 minutes, and overly complicated usage experiences lacking on-screen displays and EPGs. Certainly, much of this is already being addressed by next-generation handsets with integrated digital TV tuners for accessing new broadcast, mobile TV solutions over DVB-H, T-DMB, and MediaFLO -- so we're not overly concerned. After-all, Amberlight says their research, uh, "proves" that there is consumer demand for mobile TV if only operators can offer services which are "easy to use" and "competitively priced." Well, we're glad that argument is settled.
Hiwire to compete with MediaFlo, Modeo's DVB-H
Another major player has joined Qualcomm and Crown Castle with plans to enter a nascent mobile TV market whose future is wildly uncertain. Aloha Partners L.P. will ultimately spend $500 million to roll out its Hiwire service nationwide on the 700MHz spectrum, which it will share with Qualcomm's MediaFlo, and which is considered superior to the 1600MHz spectrum owned by Crown subsidiary Modeo. However, Hiwire will join Modeo in adopting the DVB-H standard for mobile TV, as opposed to the proprietary MediaFlo technology that will be embedded into CDMA handsets. With Verizon already committed to offering the Qualcomm tech to its customers, Hiwire will need to partner with either Cingular or T-Mobile if it expects to gain a similar foothold in the GSM market, and even then, its success will largely be based on consumers' willingness to adopt a service that so far they have shown little interest in.[Via MobileTracker]
MobiTV cuddles-up with Microsoft to bring digital TV to your Windows device
While it sure seems that MediaFLO, DVB-H, and T-DMB broadcast technologies are set to bring the pain to mobile digital television pioneers MobiTV this year, don't count the old dog out just yet. Today MobiTV announced a partnership with Microsoft to bring their flavor of mobile DTV to Windows Mobile powered phones and devices, as well as XP-based PCs and laptops. The love-in means MobiTV will make use of Microsoft's Windows Media platform, including their DRM, audio and video codecs, and Windows Media Player for content delivery and consumption. The technology will be on display at CTIA where we'll be sure to check it out in our live coverage.[Via Geekzone]
