大象传媒

bbc.co.uk Navigation

Darren Waters

Is the future mobile?

  • Darren Waters
  • 14 Jan 08, 16:00 GMT

This may be a bit incestuous, but colleagues over at the 大象传媒 Internet blog are looking for some big new ideas about the future of mobiles.

Specifically, they want to know:

* Do we need to produce different content for mobile - or is it just the same stuff reformatted for your device? Do you want stories to be shorter on a mobile or the same as the web?
* Are you interested in different stories on the move - or would you want 大象传媒 News or Sport to be consistent across our different outlets?
* What about audio and video? More and more phones are capable of playing this. Is this important to you on a handheld or a distraction? Does your answer change if you don鈥檛 have to pay?
* Would you ever watch live TV on a mobile or handheld?

Here's your chance to shape how 大象传媒 News works.
Don't say we never ask.....!

Comments

In answer to the last question, I would. I have been to Japan where everyone has a phone with a built in TV Tuner. After thinking about it long and hard, I think that I would love to watch TV on a mobile, as long it is in a decent resolution and the screen takes up a bit more space than they do today compared to the rest of the phone. However, not so mcuh it turns into an iPhone, Those are horrible.

  • 2.
  • At 08:14 AM on 15 Jan 2008,
  • Karl Stoney wrote:

I don't think you should have different content for a mobile as that stears away from mobile internet and more back to WAP days!

As for the length of the stories, perhaps have an overview which doesn't appear on the normal website, then you can click "more" to view the entire article?

Personally i'm interested in reading all different stories on the move, not just one genre.

Audio and Video - at the moment to me wouldn't be useful simply due to data charges. I would imagine as technology moves forward, and more networks adopt the "unlimited free mobile interest" policy then this would become more popular, but for the moment for me it is the least important requirement.

If i had access to live TV on my handheld such as what certain mobile providers supply at the moment, i would use it for a while because of the novelty but then i would imagine it would fade out, again not a very important feature for me.

In many news stories, and in the question being asked here, the focus seems to be on the sociological context; mainly the world outside work. But this question relates very much to the world of working in organisations as well; the organisational context. There is a need to join the two. Both contexts drive each other; everything affects everything else. So perhaps we might forget, to some degree, about the different technologies, and first look at the forces that are driving sociological change and organisational change. We then interface that with the type of technology on the horizon, and see how that interfaces with these joined-up contexts. If we do that, then there would seem to be an emphatic yes; the future is mobile. The question is, what are the potential scenarios, and what to do about it?

I use mobile internet a lot as I have a long commute - and then sometimes its just easier to hit my gmail mobile application than to fire up the laptop once I am back home!

I would love a service from the 大象传媒 that expanded on its excellent news applet... maybe with added video/audio

I think content needs to be tweaked for mobile use, and maybe the big content providers like yourselves could work with the big (mobile)broswer companies like opera (and ahmmmm someone else?!?!)

Mobile video/audio podcasting has to become a big thing, it is just such a good idea - refrech your podcast client on the train and listen/watch to your fav. feeds there and then.

Guy
www.sleepywhisper.com

  • 5.
  • At 12:26 PM on 15 Jan 2008,
  • Alex wrote:

1. No just present it differently. A newspaper, a web site such a bbc news, bbc tv news and bbc radio news all present the same information in their news programmes it's just presented in a different way. All things being equal then all services would ay the same thing only editorial comment should differ. Assuming the facts are reported.
make mobiles take the same information from the same place and present it differently, same with desktops, pocket pc's teletext etc

2. Standardise and you'll save time, money, inconsistancies and potential contradictions. Its a key rule to efficiency. That includes the format in which it is supplied. See Microsoft above!! 1 format and there are no format wars and naffed off consumers

3. Sometimes silence is a better distraction but are we not already offered this but not by the 大象传媒, my pocket pc has been able to stream tv, radio stations, download podcasts and vidcasts for a number of years now. Unforynately content isn't always up to scratch.

4. Yes, if it was worth watching, or I could watch what I want when I want.

Aren't we technically there, jsut not commercially?

Even as a user that has one of those "unlimited data charge" tarifs, and who is able to browse on a high speed HSDPA smarphone, I still want my mobile content to be "mobile". This doesn't mean necesarily different content, but it does mean a different way of displaying it and interacting with it. There are limiting factors when working with mobile devices, and that is size of screen and input method. The input method is slowly being worked around with the advent of keyboards, but the size of screen is still an issue. The Opera browser gets around this magnificently but it doesn't support video and Flash. And that's a problem. I want to be able to look at all the content I can on my laptop, but I want to be able to look at it in a way that is configured comfortably for the screen size I'm viewing it on and the navigation method that I'm relying on. Are these "wants" mutually exclusive?

As for TV - I'm not sure. A post above mentions it being a bit "flash in the pan" and I have to agree. I think the need for information is best served via text and imagery rather than moving media. Having said that, I have watched a live MotoGP round from Eurosport on a mobile phone and it was just about an agreeable experience. But this kind of thing takes power, and the handheld devices we're seeing at the moment are being hampered by battery technology. Until this improves I feel that we should be playing to our strengths rather than our weaknesses, and concentrating on delivering a static (not including embedded video and other A/V) web experience that is as rich as it is on a desktop.

It's hard enough to read from a full-sized screen, so audio, pic & video content makes more sense on a mobile screen than long copy.

That screen might be on a phone - but could just as easily be on a wireless/connected mp3/video player/handheld game player.

& I wouldn't assume that all the traffic will be download: soem folk will want to upload audio/podcasts, pictures & vid

As WiMax rolls out (hopefully!) and city centres offer free wireless connections, then the quality of video that can be watched will rise, along with the quality of mobile screens on our handsets.

Will

This post is closed to new comments.

The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

大象传媒.co.uk