Mobile Video Technology Developments

SUMMARY

Mobile Video Gains Popularity but Content Management Remains a Significant Challenge

With recent advances in compression and communication technologies and the growing uptake of 3G technologies, mobile video is gaining tremendous ground. Enabling 3G technologies have been instrumental in helping mobile video applications become widely available and affordable enough to suit a variety of budgets. However, these applications face some intrinsic problems such as issues regarding content ownership and transmission that must be sorted out before they can really take off. The viewing of video clips involves downloading and storing them on to mobile devices, which raises the contentious issue of who actually owns the clips. Many industry participants feel that without clearly defined policies and frameworks on content rights management, content and media providers could lose significant amounts of money due to piracy and unauthorized sharing. Participants are debating these issues and discussing the development of delivery systems that are specifically designed for mobile devices.

This Technical Insights study provides a comprehensive overview of the technologies that have propelled mobile video into the limelight. It discusses the most promising of these technologies and their potential impact on the mobile video space and includes in-depth discussion on their noteworthy applications. The study also includes a detailed analysis of enabling network standards that drive these technologies.

Convergence of Services -- a Strong Driver

One of the biggest driving forces for mobile video is the increasing convergence of services and technologies in the communications industry. "Today, there is almost seamless connectivity of services comprising voice, video, and data over a single communication channel," observes the analyst of this research service. "This availability of 'triple play' services is driving multimedia services like never before."

Taking this convergence a step further is the integration of home electronics with mobile platforms. Emerging services in some European countries are enabling home monitoring through cameras placed in the house and connected to a mobile networking infrastructure such as cellular. This means that the subscriber actually receives live video data streamed through the network on to his phone. Other pioneering developments include efforts to integrate the enterprise infrastructure with mobile video platforms, which is likely to enable improved communication with mobile employees. Such revolutionary applications are expected to continue driving the growth of mobile video for the next few years.

Focused R&D Boosts Mobile Video Technologies

Research and development (R&D) into new technologies that enable or create mobile video applications has increased tremendously. For instance, efforts are underway to develop better compression algorithms and higher throughput enabling networks to improve the end-user experience. Many chipset providers are focusing on these areas by developing dedicated chipsets for mobile video applications.

Some of the promising technologies in the mobile video space include digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) and MediaFLO. DVB-H is already being used in commercial applications in some European countries, while MediaFLO is relatively new but promises to deliver high-quality media content at equally high speeds. In Asia, digital media broadcasting (DMB) and digital satellite broadcasting (DSB) technologies are fast growing. DMB technologies can be adapted to terrestrial transmission methodologies. DSB is a satellite version of DMB and gives high data throughput but has associated drawbacks such as handset cost, service, and power concerns.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 1. Executive Summary
  • 1. Key Findings
    • 1. Noteworthy Emerging Technologies
    • 2. Noteworthy Applications
  • 2. Technology Drivers and Restraints Briefing
    • 1. Technology Accelerators
    • 2. Technology Limitations
• 2. Technology and Applications Viewpoint
  • 1. Worldwide Digital Video Standards
    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H)
    • 3. 3G-324M
    • 4. MediaFLO
    • 5. Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
    • 6. Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB)
  • 2. Compression Standards
    • 1. Motion Pictures Expert Group-2 (MPEG-2)
    • 2. MPEG-4
    • 3. H.264
  • 3. Enabling Network Standards
    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
    • 3. Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE)
    • 4. Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)
  • 4. Technology Impact Analysis
    • 1. Analysis of Application Segments
    • 2. Technology Roadmap and Innovation Assessment Table
• 3. Technology Adoption Factor Analysis
  • 1. Influential Market Factors
    • 1. Industry Trends
    • 2. Regulatory and Political or Other Factors
  • 2. Primary Drivers & Challenges
    • 1. Primary Drivers Analysis
    • 2. Primary Challenges Analysis
• 4. Assessment of Technology Innovations
  • 1. Noteworthy Innovation at Key Companies
    • 1. Innovative Mobile Video Solutions--USA
    • 2. 3G Video Telephony and Video Solutions--USA
    • 3. Network and Device Agnostic Content Delivery Solution--Israel
    • 4. Enabling Mobile Video Solutions--Finland
    • 5. Software Solutions For Enabling Mobile Video--Netherlands
    • 6. New Nationwide 3G Services Network--USA
    • 7. Mobile Video Services and Solutions--USA
    • 8. Mobile Multimedia Content Browsing and Organizing Solutions--France
  • 2. Noteworthy Innovation at Key Academic and Government-related Institutions
    • 1. Novel Digital Video Research At Columbia University--USA
    • 2. Pervasive Computing at University of Florida--USA
    • 3. Codec Compression Research At DoCoMo Communications Laboratories--USA
    • 4. Secure Mobile Video Research At The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign--USA
    • 5. Mobile Technologies Research At The University of Bradford--UK
    • 6. Communications Convergence Research at KETI--South Korea
    • 7. Digital Broadcasting Research at ETRI--South Korea
• 5. Database of Key Industry Participants & Patent Information
  • 1. Database of Key Industry Participants
    • 1. Participants from the Industry
    • 2. Participants from Academia
  • 2. Intellectual Property Information
    • 1. Selected Patents - 2005/2004
    • 2. Selected Patents - 2003
• 6. Frost & Sullivan 2005 Science and Technology Awards
  • 1. Technology Innovation
    • 1. Award Description
    • 2. Award Recipient
  • 2. Product Innovation
    • 1. Award Description
    • 2. Award Recipient
  • 3. Excellence in Technology
    • 1. Award Description
    • 2. Award Recipient
• 7. Critical Reference Tables
  • 1. Decision Support Databases
    • 1. Worldwide Mobile Communication Revenue
    • 2. Worldwide Mobile Subscribers
    • 3. Worldwide Installed PC Base
    • 4. Worldwide Television Broadcasting Revenue
    • 5. Worldwide Urban Population
    • 6. Worldwide ICT Spending
    • 7. Worldwide Percent ICT Spending
    • 8. Worldwide Television Penetration Per Household
    • 9. Worldwide Cable Modem Broadband Penetration