Mobile TV shrugs again: Spb TV available for Symbian, still not great

Mobile app powerhouse Spb Software has released it’s mobile TV service for Symbian S60 phones. It’s an interesting app - Spb TV is an IPTV service that collects over a hundred TV channels into one hub. It’s fairly cheap (there’s a once off payment of 15 dollars), and the user-interface has met with huge approval from all testers. So why isn’t it going to work?

First off, here’s a nice (and short) little video that Spb did showcasing the product:

It looks pretty damn sexy. It also looks like a display demo - hands up who thinks it’ll really run that smoothly in working day circumstances?

With this release, it runs on both Windows Mobile 5+ and S60 phones.

From Spb:

Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, Spb Software CEO says “Mobile TV is an additional fun factor for phone users, who expect hassle-free access to a nice selection of international TV channels from their handsets. This is why Spb TV is subscription-free, optimized for 3G and WiMax networks, but works great with WiFi connections too. We also look to cooperation with mobile operators, to provide more customized and branded mobile TV experiences to their subscribers.”

What we think?

Mobile TV is one of the many, gaping grey areas in the mobile market. It should work. Developers want it to work. Operators want it to work. Content providers want it to work. Mobile device owners want it to work. So what’s the problem? Time and money. Maybe things will change when 4G networks get up and running, but right now watching TV on your mobile is like watching a slide-show. It’s chunky as hell. On top of that, data charges can still be really huge, and streaming live digital content to your phone is going to hurt your bill if you do it via your operator. You could do it cheaply by sitting in a WiFi hotspot instead, but then it’s not exactly “mobile” TV, is it? Answers on a postcard.