Is it possible that the iPhone could be a catalyst for a surge in mobile IPTV services? That’s what a recent study by the research firm Interpret seems to suggest.
According to the study, since the Apple iPhone’s release 63% of users have viewed videos on it in comparison to 28% of regular cell phone users.
Top of the touch-screen has of course been YouTube with over half of all iPhone owners claiming to have watched at least one YouTube clip on the device. Of this group 46% watched a music video, 34% watched a news report and 32% watched a movie trailer.
So why have more people watched broadband video on an iPhone than on other portable devices? The profile of the device is an obvious factor but what about the user interface.
Having a desktop widget that you can simply push with your finger is a far cry from navigating to YouTube via a browser that you have to launch separately.
This opens up another can of worms concerning YouTube’s imminent arrival on AppleTV. It could be argued that with the iPhone, YouTube has found its natural home for those who want to watch videos rather than post video blogs. The videos are short and can be viewed in bursts and as already mentioned, the interface takes all of the fuss out of browsing.
Trying to bring that quick fire experience into the living room may prove to be a harder sell than Apple is anticipating, watching an AppleTV streamed HD movie on demand from the internet on a plasma TV is a far cry from watching a three minute low-res clip on the same set up.
But the really important question to consider is, how will all of these different parts of the technological equation evolve to accommodate each other?
Will YouTube start to provide lengthier higher resolution videos for home streaming? Which other handheld devices will start to mimic the iPhone’s intuitive direct line to YouTube or other broadband video services?
So many questions, but what do you lot – our esteemed readers – think? Let us know in the usual place.
[Via Daily IPTV]
