Let's say you're hooked on Lost, American Idol, Desperate Housewives, or The OC, maybe. Soon, you may be able to catch the latest episode on your cell phone. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has launched a pilot project in Helsinki, Finland, allowing subscribers to test out a cell phone that broadcasts television. Sure, this could be the beginning of the end of the television-centric term "couch potato," but personally, I doubt it.
Just last week there was word of Sony's (NYSE: SNE) new Walkman-enabled cell phones, which will try to take on Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPod. And of course, the idea of media on the go has been a popular one over the course of the last year or so, what with Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) launch of its Portable Media Center last summer, through which users can watch DVDs and other fun stuff on the move.
Nokia had a tough time of it last year (revisit its dip to a two-year low here), when it seemed that rivals like Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Samsung were taking some of its precious market share as Nokia missed the boat on some popular features and price points for cell phones. However, Nokia has struggled onward this year, regaining some of the ground it lost. It's also got a lot of other state-of-the-art plans in the works.
For my part, while I think the array of gadgetry increasingly available in the palm of your hand is interesting, I still find the idea of portable music more compelling than portable video, or TV for that matter. However, Nokia said that it conducted research that revealed that people like to watch TV in cars (hopefully, not while driving, for goodness sake!) and in cafes and other public places. The company also threw "the workplace" in as another possible venue for mobile TV, which many employers may not relish.
According to tech lore, Apple's Steve Jobs has in the past rejected the notion that consumers would want visual entertainment such as TV or DVDs on portable devices that lend themselves best to activities where one is doing something else at the same time -- jogging, running to catch the bus, or shopping, for example. I tend to think that TV is a much more sedentary habit, which just doesn't lend itself well to being on the go. (Nor does it lend itself well to tiny screens.)
Stranger things have happened, of course -- I thought digital cameras in cell phones were a ridiculous idea, and look how that turned out. However, I'm thinking that TV is still squarely in the realm of the couch potato.
What do you think of this latest brainstorm? Talk to other interested Fools on our Nokia discussion board.
Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.
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