Analyst perspectives on key wireless industry topics including mobile devices, network infrastructure, mobile operators, mobile content, and short range wireless connectivity.

According to today’s Washington Post, ESPN Mobile will soon begin broadcasting as many as 25 full-length college football games each month to its subscriber’s phones.  The story doesn’t say how much customers will have to pay for the football package, but the news is a positive one for the MVNO.  To date the service provider’s sports offerings haven’t been that much better than what was available to mobile subscribers with other operators (I know the folks at ESPN will disagree with me on that one).  But the ability to watch a full game, live, rather than just a minute or two of highlights after the game is over, is a real winner to my mind.

How ESPN Mobile shows the games though, is important.  As noted in ABI’s report on mobile video services, it’s important that video to be shown on a mobile’s small screen be properly shot and displayed.  On the small screen, the players, and more particularly the ball, will be hard to see if wide-angle shots are used.  Lots of close ups are helpful, which means using separate cameras, mounted above the broadcast camera but taking tighter shots, and using a second production team to re-cut the live show on the fly and edit it for mobile.  The cost of doing this sort of thing is higher than simply repurposing the regular broadcast feed, but it is necessary for making the video engaging for mobile.  

Nevertheless, I wonder how many people will watch an entire game on their phones.  If they do, they might need to plug the handset into a charger in order to make the battery last the entire game.  My guess is that people will tune into the game for a few minutes at a time to check the progress of their team.  Still, the cool factor alone will make this service worthwhile if it’s not too expensive.

FCC Approves Sprint/Clearwire Deal
Author: Philip Solis
Principal Analyst, Mobile Broadband
Posted: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 18:18:46 EST

Motorola Drops LiMo and Europe
Author: Stuart Carlaw
Vice President and Research Director, Mobile Wireless
Posted: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:51:59 EDT

Nokia's Touch Screen - At Last
Author: Kevin Burden
Research Director, Mobile Devices
Posted: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 14:08:33 EDT

GSMA Launches "Mobile Broadband" Branding Initiative To Start Defending Against WiMAX
Author: Philip Solis
Principal Analyst, Mobile Broadband
Posted: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:08:17 EDT

Sprint Finally Launches Xohm . . . In Baltimore at Least
Author: Philip Solis
Principal Analyst, Mobile Broadband
Posted: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:22:23 EDT