Users Frustration with Un-Optimized Mobile Video

A survey of U.K. mobile users finds 96 percent are frustrated with their mobile video experience. In part, that likely reflects latency and bandwidth limitations that affect the quality of video content.

About 67 percent are discouraged by non-continuous video playback and the length of time it takes a video to begin playing, as well.

Of the 16 to 24 year olds surveyed, 69 per cent of users prefer video to be optimized, rather than wait significantly longer for higher-quality streaming, the study suggests.

That might be seen by some as an argument in favor of prioritizing some bits, such as video or voice, under conditions of congestion. The other suggestion will be that mobile operators need to provide more bandwidth. The problem there is the same as we face in major metro areas when new freeways are built. Traffic always builds to clog even the new capacity. That will especially be true as mobile video consumption grows.

Mobixell Survey Reveals Users Frustration with Un-optimised Mobile Video

25% of Americans want Android Tablets?

About one in four Americans surveyed by Zogby on behalf of Sybase say they are open to some degree to buying an Android tablet device. About a quarter said they would consider replacing a notebook PC with a tablet if the features and apps were suitable.

It always is difficult to "operationalize" such findings, as those same respondents might "like" or "want" such devices, but be unwilling to spend $700 to acquire one.

The perhaps-useful findings were about screen size, which affects form factor. About half suggested they preferred a nine or 10-inch screen. More than a quarter wanted a 12-inch screen. Some 21 percent wanted a seven-inch screen and three percent wanted a five-inch screen.

Tablets might ultimately reflect a variety of form factors and lead applications, or some form factors might not get traction. The three-inch screen, for example, would seem to overlap almost directly with smartphones.

Survey shows one in four Americans want Android tablets

Live TV Losing Younger Adults

Nearly three in five US consumers watch at least some video on a device other than a television, according to market researcher Morpace. Time shifting using a digital video recorder, DVDs, online and video on demand represent about 48 percent of overall video consumption.

Overall, across demographic cohorts, Morpace found 52 percent of total TV viewing time consisted of live TV. Among younger adults ages 18 to 34, that proportion fell to 41 percent. Adults 55 and up watched live TV almost two thirds of the time, but even Gen Xers and younger boomers were evenly split between live TV and several timeshifting nethods.

Online was the most popular alternative to live TV, with about half of consumers using some online source for viewing video content, and another 23 percent using a streaming video service.

Live TV Losing Younger Adults

RIM Tablet Coming Next Week?

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. could unveil its new tablet computer next week, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The tablet, which some inside RIM are calling the BlackPad, is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of this year. It will feature a seven-inch touch screen and one or two built-in cameras.

It will have Bluetooth and broadband connections but will only be able to connect to cellular networks through a BlackBerry smartphone. The tablet apparently won't be sold with a cellular service included.

Sprint Has No Plans to End Unlimited Plans

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said the carrier doesn't have plans to implement tiered pricing for mobile data--but he didn't rule out such a move at some point in the future.

'We are watching very closely,' Hesse said. "Clearly, I'm not ruling out metered."

On the other hand, he said, customers value simplicity. Put another way, they value predictability, and an unlimited plan provides protection from overage charges.

Hesse: Sprint could discontinue unlimited pricing

Blockbuster Declares Bankruptcy

Call it a commentary on the retail rental model, changes in end user preferences or simply the rise of online and other forms of distribution, but Blockbuster, to almost nobody's surprise, has declared bankruptcy.

Best Buy CEO Now Says Tablet Sales are Incremental to PCs

Brian J. Dunn, CEO, Best Buy Co. is "walking back" a comment reported by the Wall Street Journal, where Dunn said Apple's iPad might have cannibalized as much as 50 percent of Best Buy's PC sales over the last quarter.

Later, Dunn appeared to want to soften the reported remarks. "We see some shifts in consumption patterns, with tablet sales being an incremental opportunity," Dunn now says.

We might not know whether the latter statement, or the first statement, is closer to the truth until the round of quarterly reports.