HBO Mobile highlights, teasers and tasers

Nothing disruptive in today's article in the NYT "For Tiny Screens, Some Big Dreams" (20060521). Digital Chocolate's shares should go up for a while but beyond that, nothing really new.
Yet, that was the occasion to mention HBO Mobile and the concept of series-highlights for catch-uppers, some kind of a sequel-teaser for those who missed the Sopranos or their favorite program. You can see who stole the base during the bottom 5th without being stuck on your seat for 9 innings, you can tell what Jack Bauer's been doing without following him everywhere all those damned 3600 seconds. That's what highlights are all about : putting the bulk of the time in the dark. That's what mobility is all about nowadays : getting more essential but less substantial.
The younger generations are growing up with their own figures of speech (which has always been the case), their own writen language (an heritage from SMS and e-mail) and now their own emotional quick fixes (sneak peeks, highlights, teasers, flashes, vibrations, artificial "Events"...) ; your mobile and your remote control* as tasers directed towards yourself. It's getting more and more difficult to make you react but that's the only way to make you feel still alive.


* in my case, it's the same device, remote con becoming a basic feature in handsets. Korean web, TV and mobile programs are becoming more and more exhausting for overstimulated networks and viewers.

CAPEX and the city - curb your enthousiasm or six feet under

Cheers : Vodafone had to release some exciting news to their shareholders ? Welcome to their global mobile TV service ! The content looks fine (top HBO series, the UEFA Champions League...), but we're talking 3G W-CDMA TV and this isn't likely to solve their capacity troubles : if you want to watch Sex And The City on your mobile phone, your operator needs to play Capex And The City first (or better : switch to DVB / DMB). Farrington Road Films understood so well how much work had to be done they named their m-soap "Brick' it". Who knows ? there are more 3G network operators in the UK than there were little pigs in the tale, and more than one could have a house made of stone.
Fewer fireworks for the launch of ALDI Talk ; the hard discounter doesn't care about 3G nor mobile TV yet : Medion mobile simply target 750,000 subs interested in the cheapest voice money can buy (5 cents a mn or a SMS among Aldi Talkers, but triple that if you want to reach anyone else). EPlus are supporting this MMinus, which could outperform USA's Movida despite the impressive Wal-Mart - Cisnero Group combo (it's the economy, stupid - who cares about services ?).
Remember Vivendi's Xfera ? The Spanish 3G greenfield MNO will as initially planned launch for the World Cup in June and draft 600,000 customers by the end of that year. Too bad our Don QuiXfera went for the 2006 World Cup windmill instead of the 2002 one. Hutchison Whampoa are considering taking over this X-file.