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Tag: downloads

  • iPhone App Downloads Pass 1.5 Billion


    Apple’s App Store has hit the 1.5 billion download mark just a few days after celebrating its first anniversary.

    iTunes now has more than 65,000 apps available in 77 countries, with over 100,000 developers registered with the iPhone Developer Program.

    Steve Jobs, who appears to be back at work, said in a press release: "With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up."

    There was no indication from Apple on what percentage of the downloaded apps were free and what percentage were paid for.

    Apple has now shipped over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches.

  • Teething Troubles Disrupt Nokia's Ovi Store Launch


    Nokia has officially opened the doors to the Ovi Store application site – but its answer to Apple’s app store immediately ran into problems.

    High traffic "spikes" – which would surely have been expected, right? – meant users experienced slow downloading and page upload times.

    Effort were immediately made to rectify this by adding additional servers, according to Eric John, head up product marketing for the Ovi Store.

    But it meant Nokia didn’t get the smooth launch it would have hoped for.

    The Ovi Store is the fourth major mobile app software store to open, and the third since Apple launched iTunes in July 2008, following the Android Market and BlackBerry App World.

    Some analysts suggest the market can only sustain five such ventures.

    Nokia said the applications and services storefront will target an estimated 50 million Nokia device owners, across more than 50 Nokia devices, including the forthcoming flagship phone the Nokia N97.

    Users will have the ability to download mobile applications – starting with an initial offerering of over 20,000 – including games, videos and podcasts.

    The mobile client is available in English, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish and supports operator billing in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom.

    Globally, credit card billing is available through the mobile application and the mobile website.

    AT&T plans to make Ovi Store available to its customers in the United States later this year. Additional countries, languages, devices and features will be added throughout the year.

    We’d be interested in hearing your experience with Ovi – good or bad?

  • HDTV Has Become Simply TV


    HDTV penetration in US households is climbing so steadily that it’s apparently no longer deemed necessary to mention the high-def part.

    According to Paul Gagnon, director of North America TV Market Research for DisplaySearch, “HDTV has simply become TV, with nearly every consumer either owning or understanding the benefits of HDTV and desiring to become an owner”.

    He went on to say: “As HDTVs becomes mainstream, the TV supply continues to benefit and prosper. The outlook for growth is still very positive, but it is critical that the industry continues to focus on refinement.”

    Speaking after DisplaySearch’s recent HDTV Conference, Gagnon noted that the transition to HDTV was well underway and many households were now watching their favorite programs in HD.

    Content and distribution were expanding the selection of HD programming, further encouraging the adoption of HDTVs.

    However, before anyone gets complacent, Gagnon pointed out that there was still a substantial number of homes without HDTVs – or other rooms in the homes of HDTV owners that could be upgraded – leaving a substantial market opportunity.

    HD downloads were among other topics covered at the two-day conference.

    Delegates were told the dreams of the industry about HD via broadband for connected TVs would remain dreams, until the infrastructure is improved.

    It was pointed out, though, that there were increasing demands from consumers for new connected applications and these were evolving rapidly.

    The overall adoption of digital downloads is also growing but remains fairly low in comparison to other methods of consuming video, the conference heard.

    The number of devices that can play back digital downloads is increasing, with game consoles, standalone set-tops, and BD players now part of the mix.

    However, DisplaySearch’s Paul Erickson said that a primary limitation to HD downloads was broadband – both penetration and speed.

    He said it would be some time before digital downloads catch on as mainstream consumers shift their disc-based consumption behavior gradually.

  • Blu-ray disc or three hour HD download?


    Much has been made of the role the high cost of Blu-ray Discs has played in hampering the high def format’s uptake.

    Yet if reports from Engadget are borne out, VUDU is shortly to offer HD downloads “equal in quality to Blu-ray movies”.

    The US-based internet video download service is said to be already currently in private beta testing for the new content format, which is dubbed HDX.

    While VUDU has not confirmed the report, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) would certainly have something to say about such claims if it were to do so.

    Just last month, the BDA reacted swiftly to the DISH Network’s claims that its “full” HDTV 1080p/25Hz image matched Blu-ray quality.

    Whether the BDA has any need to feel threatened remains to be seen.

    This was the view espoused by David Mercer, principal analyst at Strategy Analytics, who suggested satellite providers are competing primarily with cable and IPTV companies, and not with the Blu-ray Disc format itself.

    Yet even if VUDU does start offering HD downloads approaching Blu-ray quality would the prospect of approximately three-hour download times appeal to many people?

    The company currently offers SD as well as HD downloads but it appears it is aiming for the high-end home theater owner with the new HDX codec.

    While streamed SD content can be played immediately, HD downloads require several hours to begin.

    Not surprising since the downloads would be over 6GB, requiring over two hours to download in most cable cases, and over four hours for most DSL users.

    We’d be interested to hear what would you would prefer – a handy, albeit still pricey disc, or a three hour wait to watch HD content on demand?

  • Younger viewers ditching TV for mobile media

    Smartphone.biz-news.com asked Christian Harris, CEO of mobile video provider Gorillabox, for his views on the mobile TV market

    More and more younger viewers are eschewing traditional TV schedules and embracing new technology – mobile TV, DVRs, online streaming and downloading – to set their own viewing schedules.

    So much so, that research just released reveals the average age of those watching TV in the US has tipped 50 for the first time.
    The study of the big five US broadcast networks by research firm Magna Global shows the average viewer no longer falls within the 18-49 demographic so sought after by advertisers.
    While average viewing age figures for the UK are not available, research by entertainment analysts Attentional shows viewing time among those aged 16-34 has been declining faster than other age groups.

    This is a situation of which Christian Harris, CEO of mobile video provider Gorillabox, is fully aware.
    He believes that mobile viewing will rapidly become a prime means of consuming content for the 14-28 market.
    “Significant consumer segments don’t consume media on radio or TV any more,” he said. “It is either web or mobile.
    “For this audience, mobile is a key channel for content. To serve the mobile channel for this audience, mobile broadcasting is a primary capability.
    “The question isn’t ‘why should you?’ – it’s ‘why wouldn’t you?’”

    Last month, Gorillabox partnered with the AIDS charity 46664 and mobile operator 3 to provide mobile TV content from Nelson Mandela’s birthday concert.
    Video of artists such as Amy Winehouse, Razorlight, Annie Lennox and Queen was streamed live over mobile networks across the UK from London’s Hyde Park.
    Gorillabox was responsible for the deployment of content on the streaming platform, billing integration and customer care, while 46664 marketed the service and worked with Gorillabox on making the live video content available from the concert.

    Harris said the mobile portal improved accessibility to music videos from some of the world’s biggest musicians and celebrities.
    “Large-scale events need to be fully supported by multi-channel content distribution,” he said.
    “This used to be radio and TV and more recently web. However, this now also includes mobile.”
    A recent survey by mobile TV and video solutions provider QuickPlay Media revealed significant barriers hindering users from consuming TV and video content on their mobile phones – factors included lack of awareness of the services that are on offer and the perceived high costs involved.
    But the survey showed that demand for mobile TV existed with 65 per cent of those questioned, who said they would be willing to watch an advertisement if it meant that the content was free or discounted.

    The 3G iPhone could have a significant impact on the mobile TV market as research shows that many iPhone owners have accessed TV and video content with greater frequency than subscribers using other types of mobile handsets.
    With added 3G capability, the iPhone brings with it some attractive attributes to the mobile TV market, including video-friendly specifications, access to a rapidly increasing range of Apple TV and video content and the ability to support multiple methods of delivering TV and video (sideloading, indoor WLAN and high-speed 3G cellular data access).

    Harris said Gorillabox runs its own delivery technology called the G-box platform .
    Developed in-house, he said the platform could handle any content or media format over GPRS or 3G networks to any mobile phone in the European Union and the US.
    He said Gorillabox was able to deliver live and on-demand media from any location in the world via its UK data-centre to mobile devices.
    “We also enable the discovery of the services via mobile search,” he added.
    “Our objective is to make the event as visible and reachable as possible and, where appropriate, provide advertising and billing.”
    There’s no doubt mobile TV content is going to become increasingly accessible.
    Christian Harris asked “why wouldn’t you watch mobile content?” – we would be really interested to hear your views?