Cell Phones: They’re Not Just for Talking, Texting or Photos
By Corilyn Shropshire, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Feb. 28–Add video recording to the list of duties that your cell phone is taking on — in addition to music player, camera, personal secretary, Web browser, television and yes, phone.
Executives at Strip District-based Penthera Technologies are in New York City today celebrating the stateside debut of their “Mediacast,” software that takes watching TV on a cell phone to the next level — allowing users to not only watch, but record programming for viewing later.
When it’s available to a choice group of trial users that Modeo LLC has selected in a few months, “Mediacast” allow users to pick and choose from a pantry of TV programs they can download to watch when they want, said Sam Leinhardt, Penthera’s chief executive officer.
Modeo, a subsidiary of British wireless infrastructure firm Crown Castle International, began privately testing the live, made-for-cell-phone TV broadcast service in Pittsburgh in 2005.
In January, Modeo kicked off a more public test in New York City by inviting several hundred users to watch Fox News, and the Discovery Channel on their phones in return for their feedback.
Soon, trial participants also be able to weigh in on using their phones as digital video recorders.
When Modeo’s ready, Mediacast’s bells and whistles will be available on upgraded versions of the Japanese-made HTC cell phone that Modeo has provided to trial participants, Dr. Leinhardt said.
Mediacast also will make advertising on the TV broadcasts more interactive — users will have the ability to click on the roughly 2-by-3-inch screen to get more information on ads and commercials that pique their interest.
When it debuted at a mobile industry trade show in Barcelona earlier this month, Mediacast was seen as a twist in the race between Modeo and its chief competitor, San Diego-based MediaFlo, to bring live cell-phone TV to consumers.
MediaFlo, an offshoot of technology giant Qualcomm, already has a leg up in the contest after being picked by Verizon Wireless and AT&T to be the provider of live TV to their cell phone customers. Verizon is expected to roll out its service in select markets by the end of March.
When they do, however, Verizon customers won’t be recording MTV videos, ESPN sports shows and other programming designed specifically for the cell phone.
It’s too early to tell how consumers will use mobile TV and whether they’ll want to record TV shows on their devices, said MediaFlo’s Senior Marketing Manager Julie Reynolds. “It’s something we’re looking at,” she said. “I record my favorite shows on my DVR at home.”
Dr. Leinhardt thinks watching and recording TV on mobile devices will become as common as having a land-based phone line at home and a cell phone for on the road.
“It won’t displace the TV on the wall,” he said. “It’ll just add to it.”
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