My only real critique of Jim's review (and others that I see) is that they are too focused on the TV experience - and not on the whole enchilada: the notion of getting your TV / PC / Wireless service from one provider - and yes for those of you who think I am a pro-AT&T bigot, you can do likewise with Verizon.
Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but if you are going to compare spec to spec and feature to feature on Cable vs. Satellite vs. IPTV, there will never be a best choice.
One will always have something the other does not have.
And as for price, I have found that you can drive yourself crazy on comparing pricing because much of it depends on your local market.
To me, this is not about TV, but rather having several things:
1. An alternative to cable and satellite. 2. The notion that you are disrupting the traditional way of getting TV 3. Getting HD over IP (way too cool) 4. Saving money on bundled service offerings 5. More competition
Fitchard points out that AT&T is broadcasting the performance — along with loads of bonus multimedia — and video on its TV and broadband channels. “But a wireless contribution to the effort will be a streamed channel over MobiTV, an application used by a small number of AT&T subscribers. AT&T's main video portal, Cingular Video, won't carry the content,” states the article.
Fitchard may be right, but he left off two small, but critical details in his story:
1. AT&T did manage to snag Chase Card Services, the credit card division of JPMorgan Chase & Co. as its sole advertiser, marking it the first major content and advertising deal through AT&T Entertainment Services.
The fact that the Swampstock event's third screen offering may be on MobiTV and not Cingular Video is too quick of a rush to judgment. Swampstock Aint the SuperBowl (Oh...that's Tim McGraw on the right...)
In the grand scheme of things, Swampstock is not the SuperBowl nor American Idol.
To me, Swampstock is a niche market- or community that AT&T is trying to reach out to, provide content and sell ads to a targeted audience.
As a consumer, what I see here is that AT&T is being cautious and methodical in prototyping three screen events, getting it right, and then scaling them up to much larger and grander sized events.
While I commend Kevin on stating the obvious, it’s more important to see a small event like Swampstock not for what it is today, but what the potential for three screen events could be.
Mobio Networks today announced the release of GetMobio, the first mobile lifestyle portal that offers over 50 free applications and widgets on the mobile phone.
In a telephone briefing held yesterday, I learned that Cingular / AT&T customers
can download the GetMobio lifestyle portal and get instant access to
favorite Web content and services right on your mobile phone.
To see if GetMobio will work on your phone click here for the list of supported devices. MobileCrunch as a good news story about it.
I find the concept Mobio to be interesting for two reasons:
1. It works on Cingular / AT&T and Sprint, but not initially on Verizon. Cingular / AT&T and Sprint offer open networks that let the consumer decide what type of content and applications they want to have on their 3rd Screen.
2. In my mind, Mobio could essentially turn your everyday mobile device and offer similar applications to what Apple's iPhone might be coming with.
Would it be as slick and integrated as some of the iPhone applications I've seen?
No.
But if you already have a cell phone, and are not ready to spend $499 for the upcoming iPhone, Mobio could wind up doing the job.
Here's a video featuring Ramneek Bhasin, CEO of Mobio demonstrating how GetMobio works.
GetMobio ships with 10 collections, which are sets of mash-up applications, widgets and content feeds (RSS) tailored to your location and preferences.
They include: - Panic Kit - In case of emergency - After Midnight - Places to go after midnight - Pamper Me - Spas, beauty treatments, health/fitness - Gadgetphilia - Stuff for the gadget lover inside all of us - Indulge Me - Satisfy what you've been craving - Outwitting the Kids - Stuff for parents at their wits end - Date Night - Everything you need to make your night special - Stepping Out - High energy places to see and be seen - Urban Trekker - Treat any city like a destination in its own right - Sports Center - For sports loverss.
Send Alan Your Review of GetMobio And Get A Free Starbucks Giftcard
It will be interesting to watch the roll-out of GetMobio. Download it and let me know what you think. The first 10 reviews that come my way, will be sent a $10 Starbucks Gift card in the mail. Just send me an email to: alan at weinkrantz dot com and I'll be in touch.
Certain types of video content will look better and have more appeal on my 2nd and 3rd screens - my PC (or rather my Mac) and my wireless device.
Here's a preview of Prom Queen - worth watching on my Mac and eventually my next generation wireless. Why? Because my computer and my wireless device are more personal veiwing experiences. And short, 3 - 5 minute videos like Prom Queen lend themselves well to watching and even sharing this video experience on the small and not the big screen (my HDTV).
You can also do more on your 2nd and 3rd screen (for now).
You don't need another remote or a supplemental keyboard to be interactive with the video. Your PC or Wireless device has both the video and the interface already built in.
Thursday was my birthday and I celebrated it by going to a wrestling match with my trainer, Cameron Bates, in Seguin, Texas. (not to worry, my kids took me out to lunch to celebrate, and then we are doing Sushi this Sunday night).
During the match, I saw a wrestling duo from Houston, known as Double Trouble.
And then I got to thinking: maybe AT&T's U-verse and Verizon's FiOS services are really what I would call Double Trouble to the traditional cable and satellite guys who are probably wondering how to defend their turf as both phone companies are successfully gaining the right political moves to expand their IPTV and other related services as we move to a switched video world.
Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) formally approved AT&T California's application for a state-issued authorization to provide video service in California as part of "The Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006," which became law on January 1st, 2007.
A big Texas high five to Ed Whitacre and Randall Stephenson for getting this done, just before April Fool's day, tomorrow.
So I guess it means full steam ahead in the build out of California.
Photo shot on location at Fiesta Dance Hall in Seguin, Texas by Alan Weinkrantz (c) All Rights Reserved
This week at 3Screens.net, I am going to broadcast a series of interviews from last week'sVON Spring 2007 (Voice on the Net and Video on the Net) conference in San Jose.
I decided that rather than writing a long winded pontification of what I learned, I thought it would be more effective to simply document a series of 16 interviews I captured on video.
What you will see this week on this blog are interviews with some very amazing, very talented, very creative, and very purposeful artists / businesspeople who are creating their own channels on the Web with on-going, serialized content.
This week you will see a recent college graduate who brought his 80 year old grandmother to VON where he films her in her kitchen keeping the traditions of Judaism with ---- cooking (of course). You'll also see a Hippie Gourmet, another who helps make time for sex and gets sex done, and a young couple from Montreal who's created an on-going sci-fi show, Galacticast.
I also have interviews with a few industry executives. For disclosure purposes, in my day job, our firm also represents and handles PR for Network2.tv. Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan have very good and insightful blogs on the subject, and I also encourage you to search VON07 in Technorati to search for other VON related blog posts, photos, and of course videos.
Finally, let me leave you with one thought- especially the 20 million consumers I hope reach: you and not AT&T, TimeWarner, Comcast, Verizon, BT and all the other cable / IPTV providers have the power to shift the balance of who really is in charge of the future of video on demand. Jeff has a video post where he interviews Jim Southworth, which is worth watching.
Stay tuned this week. I welcome your feedback and comments - alan at weinkrantz dot com.
For those of you from outside of San Antonio who read my blog, here is a story from our local newspaper by telecom reporter and AT&T watcher, Sanford Nowlin.
If you are consumer, a Wall Street honcho, an industry analyst, or just thinking about trying out U-verse, you should check into Sanford's writing at the ExpressNews and subscribe to his his AT&T blog.
I've known Sanford for something like 15 years and I have always found him to be fair and balance in his reporting on AT&T's gradual roll-out of U-verse in its test market in San Antonio.
In today's story in our daily paper he found a disgruntled customer. I am sure if he dug deep enough, he could also find an equal disgruntled TimeWarner,Dish, Grande or Direct TV customer.
He does, however, balance the story half way through the piece.
While national reporters at The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today do a good job of covering the phone company as we no longer know it, Sanford brings a local sense of coverage that you are not going to find so far removed from ground zero of where the broadband communications is taking hold.
I get calls all the time from people in New York City who run zillions of dollars into AT&T and Verizon's stock.
They ask me about strategy, earnings, margins, fiber to this, fiber to that.
My take: I am not that smart.
I write for the 99% of the universe that does not care about these issues
My readers care about a good experience, cool applications, some disruption, a good value, good service - and a place where they can learn how to use IP - based technologies at home, at work and when mobile.
Who should AT&T (and Verizon) look to for a role model in retail as they role out U-verse and its 3Screen strategy?
Lost Remote reports on Verizon's new offering a broadcast TV service for mobile phones featuring live access to eight 24-hour channels. Known as VCast Mobile TV it's delivered over a separate wireless network operated by Qualcomm.
Hopefully, my provider- AT&T / Cingular will offer it by year end.
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