NCAA basketball fans: Prepare to be jealous.
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In my hand -- yes, I'm typing with one hand -- I have one of two new Verizon Wireless cell phones that show real, live television.
Holding it reminds me of holding a Sony Watchman, the line of mini-TVs from the 1980s and 1990s.
That's because when I say live, I don't mean launching some Web-needy application on your phone and waiting two minutes for it to load only to have the TV signal blink out on you every 20 seconds because it's "buffering." I mean live like go home, turn on your plasma TV and compare CBS to CBS Mobile.
Such a phone would have come in handy during March Madness when you were sitting at work, wishing you could be at home watching the men's NCAA tournament.
I know you're jealous.
Verizon currently offers two phones that support its weeks- old Mobile TV service.
The Samsung SCH-u620 is $149.99 with a two-year contract. A slider phone with a two-inch screen, it comes with all the usual goodies: Bluetooth, room for a MicroSD external memory card and a camera.
The LG VX9400, which is $199.99 with a two-year contract, is slightly bigger and fully loaded with features. The screen of this candybar-style phone hides the numeric keypad and flips out for a better angle to watch TV. The design is ergonomic and eye- catching. If I had Verizon, I would buy this phone.
Now, some of you probably are scratching your heads right now, thinking: Why would anybody want to watch TV on a cell phone?
Actually, according to ABI Research, a lot of people do. U.S. subscriptions to mobile TV services are expected to top 30 million by 2011. And revenue from those subscriptions will top $2 billion by 2010, In-Stat predicts.
Overall, people are just doing a heck of lot more with their cell phones than talking.
Last week, the trade group CTIA opened its annual conference with a report that revenue from data services, money that carriers earn on services other than voice, rose to $15.2 billion in 2006, up 77 percent from 2005. Such services, with text messaging leading the way, now account for roughly 13 percent of the carriers' total revenue.
So, TV cell phones, here we come!
Aside from being able to watch NCAA games at work, I think being able to flip to Nickelodeon from anywhere will give parents a reason to use Verizon's Mobile TV -- and pacify their children. The seven other channels are: ESPN, MTV, Comedy Central, CBS, Fox News, NBC and NBC News 2GO. More, I'm told, are on the way.
But what's really cool about this service -- and what sets it apart from others on the market -- is that Verizon's Mobile TV doesn't affect your air time or your data plan. The channels are piped via a separate network run by MediaFLO USA.
That means you can answer the phone while you're watching TV.
It also means you can watch as much or as little as you want, and you won't get charged by the minute like you would for making a phone call or by the kilobyte like you would for downloading a ringtone.
Services such as MobiTV, available through other carriers, charge based on the amount of data used as a Web connection is required. Verizon's Mobile TV is a flat $15 a month.
AT&T customers -- that's you, Cingular folk -- soon may get access to a similar service as the carrier just inked a deal with MediaFLO USA, too. AT&T currently carries MobiTV.
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