is that there are no sweeping deals being done. Devices and services are developing too fast for digital rights management policies to keep up. For [a comprehensive solution], they need a higher-level approach. But the marketplace isn't stopping and waiting for that."
So Briere expects these content decisions to continue to be made on a case-by-case basis for some time.
It's a lot easier when the content provider also owns the distribution. Fox Mobile Group unveiled a new wireless video subscription service called Bitbop, which it plans to launch in the spring. Bitbop will offer on-demand access to cable and broadcast TV shows from Fox's cable networks and NBC Universal for a $9.99 monthly fee. The Financial Times reported that the mobile group may be spun off from the parent company.
Mobile Money Advances
Not only are wireless devices becoming the preferred video channel of many, their use as a financial channel is continuing to grow as well.
Another issue the industry needs to address in more detail is the ownership of content.
However, he cautioned that providers of mobile money applications will have to address security concerns and will have to make it easy for consumers to find the applications that work best for them. Right now there are a confusing array of various applications, making it difficult for consumers to learn of and then find the ones they would use the most.
Nevertheless, according to a survey from mobile transaction network provider mBlox, 25 percent of U.S. mobile phone users and 37 percent of U.K. mobile phone users cited mobile applications as their favorite banking channel, surpassing branch and telephone banking.
News from the Backhaul Front
Verizon Wireless will be using Qwest Mobile Ethernet Backhaul to build its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, according to the two companies.
"If you leave your home today, you'll turn around if you forget your phone or your wallet. You'll go back to get either one of those. In the future, you will only turn around to get your phone. It will be your wallet," David Vigil, senior vice president of Firethorn Holdings LLC, said in discussing the potential for mobile money at CTIA Wireless 2010.
Vigil predicted that consumers will want to go at a faster pace in using mobile money than financial institutions will be able to match. However, building that demand on the front end isn't necessarily bad. Some financial institutions came out with Internet banking in the mid-1990s, long before customers were ready, lost money on the ventures and shut them down before rolling it out again several years later. The same happened with the earliest forays into mobile banking, but now the infrastructure (e.g., widely available smartphones and 3G availability) are there for mobile money applications to be successful, according to Vigil.
Qwest Mobile Ethernet Backhaul extends fiber to cellular sites. The service provides a migration path for wireless service providers such as Verizon Wireless to deploy 4G networks.
Verizon Wireless' LTE rollout plan is on track to deliver 4G LTE network to customers in 25 to 30 markets, covering roughly 100 million people by year's end, according to the company. Verizon Wireless has been conducting trials in Boston and Seattle since August 2009 that have indicated that the network is capable of peak download speeds of 40 to 50 Mbps, peak upload speeds of 20 to 25 Mbps, and average data rates of 5 to 12 Mbps on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink in real-world environments.
"Qwest worked with Verizon Wireless to develop a solution to meet their unique needs," said Roland Thornton, executive vice president, Qwest Wholesale Markets, in a prepared statement.
Pipeline
Publishing, Volume 6, Issue 11
