Mobile TV and iPhone 2.0
I loved this quote from the NYT today:
BERLIN — Every day in Switzerland, 40,000 people watch a 100-second television news broadcast on their cellphones. In Italy, a million people pay as much as 19 euros each ($29) a month to watch up to a dozen mobile TV channels.
[From Mobile TV Spreading in Europe and to the U.S. - New York Times]
What this shows is that Apple is on the right track with iPhone 2.0. The growth of the mobile entertainment platform is incredible. Whether it is games or mobile media the mobile platform is growing at an astonishing rate. Just think how often you see someone next to you in an airport or on the bus busy playing a game, watching media or listening to music on a mobile device.
This is where Apple is set to capitalize in my opinion. Bringing movies to the iTunes music store was not just for the Apple TV. I suspect Jobs has a broader vision. iPhone 2.0 with its 3G capabilities could be an even larger consumer of mobile media. In fact I suspect in we will see the iPhone be the largest consumer of media and applications from the iTunes store within 2 years.
Apple is already untethering their devices from the computer. We see the iTunes WIFI Store (Expect 3G store), and Apple TV able to now buy content without a computer. This strategy will move apple into a content delivery and consume device leader. The technology is already in place, now Apple must capitalize, and quickly.
