Key Technology Advances for Video Quality

The delivery of video services is far more complex than that of pure voice or data. Dilithium engineers and technical experts have been involved in broad range of standard and technology development in the audio/video compression and multimedia communication areas since the early 1990s. Today’s Dilithium products and solutions are underpinned by many of these technologies, either in a unique offering or as part of the standards.

Different telecommunication networks today utilize different audio/voice codecs. The variation is due to the different conditions (bit-rates, delays, error recovery/concealments, etc…) that govern a particular network. Within an industry (e.g. mobile/cellular) different codecs may also be dominant or mandated, as is the case in GSM/WCDMA and CDMA/CDMA-2000 networks. Another example of variation is between broadband VoIP codecs (e.g. the ITU-T G.72X series) and the mobile-oriented voice codecs.

The variations of audio/voice codecs used across networks necessitate transcoding because of bit-rates restrictions and the complexity involved in terminals supporting codecs of other networks. For example WCMDA handsets do not/cannot support G.72X series of codecs.

Cell Phone Video Collage

Cell Phone Video Collage

Ithica College recently held a cell phone video contest.

This is not the winner but I like this collage posted by “Soaring Chicken”.

For more entries and to see the winning video go to abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1539125

Monetizing Mobile Video Services

The key discussions around multimedia services used to be all about technology – the meetings were with the CTO personnel and were very limited about how to actually make money.  This has all changed in the last two years and very much so in the current economic environment.  What is most important is how to get back the return on investment (ROI) in a quick timeframe and to demonstrate to senior management that all of the leg work has been done to segment, define and put forward a compelling value proposition for the provider’s customers.

Monetization has become a key buzzword and if we (as an industry) can really show in a clear and concise manner that video services can make money – or that technology can save capex or opex in real-time – management will sign off for the needed investment.

The elements of monetizing video services across mobile and broadband networks are vast and complex, but relatively simple in the end.  We have advised operators on use cases and best practices in terms of marketing, service development and pricing models and they inevitably show a 6-9 month payback in worst case but require the commitment and involvement of the marketing organization to make this happen – it is just not a matter of “showing up” and hoping that people will use these services.

What do you think are the key elements of monetizing multimedia services?  What do service providers want or need to do?  What do subscribers really want or need?

Joining Technologies to Connect Citizen Journalists

Steve Garfield, citizen journalist, uses Mobile Video to upload his on the street news footage to a broadcast TV station. See more of Garfield’s ideas on YouTube.

Apple WWDC – The App Store Wall

Ever wonder what a wall-sized visualization of live downloads of the 20,000 most popular iPhone apps from the App Store would look like in near real-time? It would look like this!

Hottest Video Applications

For several years now, we’ve been in discussions with service providers, value added resellers, partners and content owners on what multimedia applications customers want. We’ve further defined this into not only what customers want, but what they are willing to pay for, actually use, and the revenue potential to providers of these services.  What has become very clear is that the list of these services has continued to grow on a global, regional and local level, and the expertise in developing, marketing and pricing these services.

In the “early days” of 3G networks (think 2003-2005) there was a lot of talk around person-to-person and related services. These included video telephony, video mail and video conferencing. One of the issues that quickly emerged was the “fax machine” syndrome – one needed someone else to video call, and the amount of 3G subscribers compared to 2/2.5G was very limited.  Also, video quality given mobile phone codec capabilities was less than optimal, pricing and tariffs were too high, and there was no way to know who had video services or who was on-line. Since then, network capabilities including Video Call Completion to Voice (VCCV) and presence using IMS have greatly increased the potential usage – but we have also seen the extreme take-off of other machine-person services.

While video portal and video streaming were available also from the beginning of 3G networks on circuit and packet access, we have seen the massive take-off now of video blogging (uploads and download access), live TV streaming and video push of personalized video clips.  While we’ve seen some traction for video/multimedia ringback tones – especially in Asia – this is a market that is still emerging being as it is dependent on person-to-person video calling and cultural norms.

So … what do you see as the hottest and most used video applications?  How are they being used today and what do customers want most in the future?  In other posts you can find more information about multimedia applications and how they are being marketed and sold today.

Etisalat UAE Launches World First Video Push Service

Etisalat UAE, has launched world first Video Push service on its Weyak portal. The service is launched with Funniest Videos. The subscription costs around $5.50 per month, and the subscriber will receive a video call delivering the funny videos everyday at 7pm. An interesting aspect of Video Push is that subscribers can be introduced to new services automatically. The Video Push platform can be easily programmed to videocall subscribers who have opted in, to offer them and demonstrate to them the latest services.

Arabcom 2009 – Lebanon

I attended Arabcom 2009 on May 28-29 in Beirut, Lebanon. The conference was very well attended, with most Arab operators and service providers, regulators, vendors and the media. It was very interesting that many operators have launched 3G and video services (p2p and VAS), and service uptake appears to be much higher than in other geographies. Many Arab countries have been embracing competitive operations which have yielded a high level of innovation.

China Market Update

I just returned from China and Taiwan. While Taiwan has been hit hard by a 50% drop in exports, China continues to hum along (excluding the Southern part which has been hit hard by a large drop in exports). China is currently rolling out the largest mobile broadband network in the world, and in record time. China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom are also racing to roll out new 3G networks with next generation video services. For China Unicom, this will involve IVVR as well as ringback tones. It is interesting to note that IVVR is one of the first applications that CU will roll out. With such a large and dispersed population, CU plans to use multimedia services via its IVVR offering to bring services “from the few to the many.”

The Mobile Applications Boom

I was just on a “Mobile Applications Boom” panel at the Red Herring Conference in San Diego, and what was interesting was that 4 of the 5 panelists were from outside the US. Since our business derives 90% of its revenue outside the U.S., I felt right at home. The key themes that emerged were that the U.S. continues to lag the world in mobile innovation, with the exception of the IPhone and its related app store. Additionally, service providers outside the US are moving much faster on mobile video services and related non-voice applications.

The consensus was that the market would evolve around a number of vertical app stores, built around the leading smartphone/mobile phone vendors. Several forecast that the IPhone would have 100,000 applications by year end, but that it would become increasingly difficult for developers to make money given the clutter. Additionally, the applications will likely evolve from the silly and frivolous to more formal applications, similar to what has happened in the social networking market.

RIM in particular will focus on its customer base, and while it will have far less applications than the iPhone, it will be very skilled at monetizing them from its existing fanatical installed base of Blackberry customers. Service providers, such as Vodafone,  are also launching their own app stores, but the feeling was that they will be less successful in competing with the app stores from the phone vendors.