Study: Mobile video image quality, speed vex users

More than half of consumers anticipate mobile video subscriptions will be too expensive to justify adoption, according to a new study conducted by mobile content solutions provider Bamboo MediaCasting and market research firm Synovate. The survey, conducted in early March, found that 51 percent of respondents expect mobile video services will be priced out of their range; among consumers who did not cite cost as a barrier, 45.5 percent anticipate poor image quality, 27 percent expect download speeds will be an issue, 17 percent fear the process will be overly complex, and 10 percent believe their content selection will be limited.

The study also reports that 48 percent of women have concerns with mobile video image quality, compared to 43 percent of men--29 percent of women also expressed doubts about download speeds, a reservation lodged by 25 percent of men. Conversely, 13 percent of men cite concerns about poor content choices, compared to 7 percent of women. Only 21 percent of youths ages 14 to 18 expressed doubts about image quality, less than any other age group--however, 45 percent teens cited download speed as their greatest frustration with mobile video.

"Mobile media technology has clearly come a long way in a very short time, but as these findings suggest, we as an industry need to ensure that consumers have a quality experience every step of the way," said Bamboo MediaCasting CEO Guy Morag in a prepared statement. "The mobile platform is unique--it's not TV and it's not the PC. Carriers and service providers stand to benefit, the closer we all come to providing solutions that don't involve unacceptable compromises." Not coincidentally, Bamboo will formally launch its SilverStripe rich-media delivery solution to U.S. carriers next week at CTIA Wireless 2008.

For more on the Bamboo/Synovate study:
- read this release [1]

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Redefining the mobile UI [3]