This, from TheFeature, is pretty interesting, I think:
When 3 launched in the UK, part of the hype was its pitch that everyone would be making video calls over the 3G network. The company quickly learned what a mistake that was. Not only did people not want to pay so much for seeing whoever they were talking to, but the high prices and ugly phones meant that it was difficult to even find someone else to take part in the other end of a video call. While the company quickly ditched that focus, it’s still been pushing a variety of higher end offerings for quite some time — and recently started talking up mobile music videos, highlighted by a live concert broadcast to subscribers.
While an entire concert may be a bit of overkill for phones, short videos seem to be somewhat more compelling filler for subscribers, leading 3 UK to proudly announce that 10 million videos had been downloaded to phones.
It goes on to say that 3 are probably making next to no money on this, and may even be losing money. But I think it’s particularly interesting for digital publishers that busy people with a plethora of devices might find fragments of video more attractive than anything “complete.”
Which reminds me that at least one phone manufacturer is repeating the mistakes of the dotcom boom by showing a guy watching a movie on his phone rather than going to the cinema. For me, mobile media jumped the shark in 2000 when an advert showed a woman watching a movie on a bus on her mobile. Overselling, anyone?
