Some will argue that video subscriptions don't resonate with consumers, though cable operators and others tend to have a different view, suggesting that both on-demand access and subscription-based models have a role to play.
According to Yankee Group surveys, at the moment only 12 percent of smartphone users watch live TV through a service provided by a carrier, while 37 percent stream content through a Web site. That should not be surprising, since streaming from many websites, such as YouTube, is essentially "free." One might wonder why the percentage of mobile video usage is not even more skewed to "no incremental cost" sources, in fact.
When it comes to specific content consumers want, 58 percent of smartphone users buy or rent content through online stores and download it either directly to the smartphone or to their PC and transfer it to the smartphone.
That might be a more-important observation. Application-specific devices can succeed, of course. Personal navigation units and e-readers are examples. But Flo TV required a special-purpose device, though, and that might not match current user preferences for watching TV directly on smartphones.
With any content product, the availability of highly-desired content always matters. In addition to the apparent lack of interest in the Flot TV dedicated TV-viewing device, one might argue there were cost and choice issues as well.
Choice here meant that other devices could support video consumption, including iTunes matched with portable or mobile devices, plus availability on Flo TV of many content types users might have wanted, but could not get when using the service. Also, many users might have simply decided that existing game consoles, PCs and smartphones are reasonable substitutes for casual viewing.
Cost also might have been an issue. Few video subscription services aside from Netflix have gotten much traction, no matter which devices are used to support consumption
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