Ovum Report Finds Strong Support for Real-Time Mobile Video
Today, GIPS released a report by research firm Ovum that discusses mobile carriers’ plans for real-time video services. The report finds that carriers are quite enthusiastic about the prospects for mobile video, with over 50% of respondents saying they planned to launch or expand such services in the next 2 years.
It seems like ever since VoIP became viable, people have been speculating when (or if) mobile carriers would roll out the next generation of communication services. Most of the talk has revolved around a perceived threat to carrier revenue streams, and reluctance toward any type of service that could possibly take traffic off circuit-switched networks. Despite the speculation, very little was known about operators’ plans for services other than SMS and data that could utilize next-gen networks. So we figured, “why not just ask them!?” 
What we found was that, contrary to popular some predictions, carriers see real-time video, which includes video conferencing, as a possible differentiating feature that will help them retain market share. Investment in and deployment of 4G and WiMax networks appears to be accelerating, lowering the technical barriers to such advanced services. Furthermore, more devices are coming equipped with user-facing cameras (read last week’s post about the iPhone patent), which seems to indicate a clear demand for real-time video communications.
How consumers may actually use such services is really up to anyone’s imagination. I can believe that quite a few people would see mobile video conferencing as somewhat intrusive. However, video certainly adds an extra dimension to a call, and there are plenty of scenarios in which users may want to see the face of the person with whom they are speaking. In addition, the possibilities this type of technology creates in such areas as citizen journalism and user generated content appear to be limitless. That might mean more inane YouTube-esque content, but as with any new technology, you have to take the good with the bad.
Tags: iPhone, mobile video conferencing, Ovum
