By 2011, 446 million people could be watching TV on their cell phones, according to IMS Research. Given adequate service quality, the market research firm expects 50 percent year-over-year TV phone growth, fueled by both TV-over-cellular and broadcast-based services such as DVB-H.

TV-over-cellular service currently enjoys an early lead, IMS says. However, by 2010, the research firm expects more than half of all mobile TV subscribers worldwide to receive their video via mobile digital broadcast services.

Adoption hinges upon service quality, however, according to Stephen Froehlich, report author. He states, “Mobile TV has the potential to spread from one customer to the next. However, to make their customers evangelists, service providers and their partners must invest enough to enable both wide population coverage and good indoor reception.”

The finding is from IMS's report, “Mobile TV — A Complete Analysis of the Worldwide Market 2006 Edition.” The report examines the market for mobile TV in handsets, portable media players, and cars, and forecasts shipments, revenues, and subscribers for ten nations and globally, by transmission standard, through 2011.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.