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RELATED POSTSCell Phone Video
Jupiter Research recently released an interesting report, “Video on Cell Phones: It’s Real in 2005, but a Paying Consumer Audience Isn’t”, which states that although 44% of consumers are interested in viewing video on their cellphones, only 19% are willing to pay anything for this service. Furthermore, only 4% of consumers considered the ability to play videos important when purchasing a new phone.
Emerging technology on cell phones, such as email, internet access and video, creates an interesting contradiction with regards to device size. On one hand, smaller phones are most certainly better, as people often carry these devices in their pockets or handbags. Small, light phones are cleary more easy to keep with you at all times than their bulky counterparts. On the other hand, producing a quality video experience on a tiny phone is extremely difficult at this point in time. For people who are constantly on the move (train commuters perhaps), any access to video from a mobile phone might be too good to pass up, but for others, waiting to be in front of a larger screen might be a more desireable way to experience this content.
Obviously, if designers can figure out a way to get a larger screen on a smaller device, this problem would dissapate. The new Motorola Razor may be a step in the right direction, but the slim phone’s screen is still rather small. Perhaps a “projector” phone could enhance video by allowing a small device to transmit any video externally.
Another idea would be for providers to embrace the idea of multiple phone devices per user. Three scenarios immediately jump to mind:
1) A Blackberry or email-focused unit for the work week, so users are constantly in contact with business associates,
2) An internet or video-focused unit with a larger screen for when users want access to personal multimedia content, and
3) A tiny, bare-bones phone for periods when small size is the most important feature.
The main drawback to this strategy is that companies don’t make it easy for the user to switch their phone service from one device to another. GSM-based services allow you to move the SIM card from one device to another, but one must be somewhat tech savvy to pull this off. CDMA providers like Verizon require calling the company to change devices — This obviously would never work with interchangeable phones. That said, A swappable card does seem to be the most feasible approach. To really excel however, the card would need to store all the contacts and other important information within so that the user would have access to this information from any device.
