Editor's Corner

Super Bowl XLI kicks off Sunday at 6:25 pm EST, and this year more than ever, mobile services are playing an integral role in the hours leading up to the game, during the game and in the high-profile commercials that often generate just as much audience interest. Leading the charge is Sprint, now 18 months into its five-year, $600 million exclusive deal with the National Football League, which is broadcasting over its Power Vision and NFL Mobile services made-for-mobile video content from host city Miami as well as news, vintage Super Bowl highlights and a live, uninterrupted stream of cable's NFL Network. Non-wireless brands are seizing upon mobile opportunities as well--Anheuser-Busch (traditionally the biggest Super Bowl advertiser), Pizza Hut and Emerald Nuts are all tying wireless marketing initiatives to their in-game spots, presumably for a fraction of the $2.6 million pricetag CBS commands for 30 seconds of network airtime.

Conspicuous by its omission is mobile TV coverage of the game itself, which would no doubt prove a godsend for those poor suckers who find themselves spending Super Bowl Sunday at work, stuck in traffic or vacationing in Amish Country. And while those unfortunate souls have my deepest sympathies, the simple truth is that the Super Bowl has no business on a mobile handset screen in the first place. For better or for worse, the Super Bowl is about larger-than-life spectacle--it's a communal event best experienced in the company of friends, gathered around a 50-inch high-definition television. Moreover, football fares poorly on mobile regardless of the importance of the game in question--with 11 men a side, there are just too many players on the field breaking off in too many directions for the sport to accurately translate to the size constraints of the wireless medium.

Besides, mobile video isn't the Super Bowl killer app anyway--as in so many things wireless, the simplest service is also the easiest sell. For the seventh consecutive year, the NFL is calling upon viewers to cast Most Valuable Player votes either via its official SuperBowl.com site or by text message, with the combined popular vote counting 20 percent toward the official MVP selection. Viewers love text voting--look no further than "American Idol" for proof--and few demographic segments enjoy espousing their opinions more than sports fans, so it's a natural extension of the Super Bowl experience. The only other mobile data service that's as comfortable a Super Bowl Sunday fit is search--and even that's assuming you don't already have the number of your favorite pizza joint stored in your handset's phonebook. - Jason