Digital Home Networks Poised To Go Mobile

A report from ABI Research claims that “consumer product vendors, content providers and mobile operators are developing solutions to allow consumers to access their personal content over the home network locally through Wi-Fi, or through the mobile network…Whether they are more basic ‘cache and carry’ solutions such as Motorola’s Follow Me TV, or more evolved products such as systems from Sling Media and Orb Networks for transferring live TV, cached video and music content to mobile phones, mobile devices are fast becoming critical emerging clients on the media network in the home.”
That’s all good, of course, it’s what consumers want…but the article does the usual “this offers an alternative to the carriers’ walled gardens, woe and calamity” that is getting a bit tiring. The actual word used is “ominous”. Interestingly, ABI points out that “the consumer’s ability to connect to a wireless service’s premium video content in the home could result in new demand for advanced mobile phones and mobile data plans“. So rather than being a problem for carriers, these services could drive uptake of the very handsets and high-end content the carriers are trying to promote. Even if the vast majority of video content is obtained from companies other than the carrier, if it encourages most people to buy a piece of content from the carrier it will come out ahead. A smaller percentage of a much larger revenue stream.