IDTV

iPhone: texting on a touch-screen?

In all the coverage of Apple's new i-Phone, no-one seems to have mentioned that one of the major mobile telephony applications today (certainly for teens and young adults) is texting rather than voice. Indeed, in Japan, teens text or email in preference to making voice-calls. But how efficiently can you text from a touch-screen (which is what iPhone is proposing)? And do you really want the thing that you're tapping numbers on all the time and holding up to your ear to listen to be the same thing you watch video back on?

I think Steve Jobs has just taken convergence one step too far. By all means combine iTunes with mobile telephony: Apple stands a better chance of making that combination work than most. But converging all the input and output functions onto a single touch-sensitive display device may prove to be a bridge too far.

I think this one's slipped through Apple's net because Jobs and other Apple execs are all baby boomers, and they typically just don't use mobiles for texting. But if you want a new mobile phone to take off, you have to take the 11-16s with you, too, and that means making SMS as easy if not easier than before. I doubt if the iPhone's touch-screen can pull that one off.

Helium - a wiki that pays

A new twist on the community-created content idea - but one that pays. Helium is a new US-based content site with international ambitions. The idea is a sort of cross between Wikipedia and Digg: registered members write articles about things that interest them, and submit them to a vetting process which involves other registered members of the site, who then give the article a rating.

The article is then posted - and if it gets a high enough rating, and garners enough hits, the author starts getting paid for his work. The good stuff, defined by the 'wisdom of the crowds', automatically rises to the top, hence the name 'Helium', and receives the highest level of revenue.

It seems like a clever idea. I've posted a few articles to see what happens, although I suspect the audience is probably too US-centric to be interested in the sort of stuff that I like writing about.

I should also declare a family interest: my younger brother wrote the code for the site's search-engine! We'll see how it develops - but have a look, and see what you think....

250,000 Mobile TV customers in Italy

Arguably the first hard evidence that there appears to be some demand for mobile TV in Italy. 250,000 subs in October, and 3 Italia reckon it will double by year-end.

Link: Agenzia Giornalistica Italia - News In English.

BBC on user-generated media

Link: Independent Online Edition > Media.

Very interesting interview with head of new media and technology at the BBC where he discusses user generated content and the BBC's plans to upload archive footage to the BBC website.

Google deal with MySpace

Link: ATV's News Archive August 7th - August 11th.

Google has won the bidding to provide search services and advertising to News Corporation’s MySpace.com, and the company’s other sites. The deal promises News at least $900 million over three and half years. “In one fell swoop, we have paid for two-thirds of our Internet acquisitions,” Peter Chernin, News president, said.

WPP invests in social networking

Link: eMarketer.com - Hooking Up With Social Networks.

Lots of interesting stats, particularly about the number of users on different social networking sites.

Nokia challenges iPod

Link: FT.com / Home UK / UK - Nokia to take on Apple in iPod war.

Can mobile phones really challenge MP3 players? Watch this space...

Finally - some premium content for the Google Video Store

Link: FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Google, MTV in video content deal.

MTV has struck a partnership with Google in which the internet company will distribute the music video broadcaster’s video programming to a series of niche websites and blogs. Some of the content the company will make available includes video clips from MTV’s Laguna Beach reality programme and its popular video music awards show as well as the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants.

As part of the deal, MTV Networks will also sell episodes of its programmes through Google’s video store. It has similar agreements with AOL and Apple’s iTunes.

McKinsey weighs in on network premium

Link: Advertising Age - McKinsey Study Predicts Continuing Decline in TV Selling Power.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A study is about to give Madison Avenue a fresh pummeling: McKinsey & Co. is telling a host of major marketers that by 2010, traditional TV advertising will be one-third as effective as it was in 1990.

That shocking statistic, delivered to the company's Fortune 100 clients in a report on media proliferation, assumes a 15% decrease in buying power driving by cost-per-thousand rate increases; a 23% decline in ads viewed due to switching off; a 9% loss of attention to ads due to increased multitasking and a 37% decrease in message impact due to saturation.

ITV and 3 in mobile TV deal

Link: Bloomberg.com: U.K..

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- ITV Plc, Britain's largest commercial television broadcaster, will offer its flagship channel live to customers of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s U.K. mobile-phone unit 3. The agreement means 3.5 million 3 subscribers will be able to watch ITV1, and the participation channel ITV Play, on their cellular phones starting this autumn, ITV and 3 said in an e- mailed statement. ITV has granted 3 an exclusive 3G mobile license for six months, the statement said.