Indian cellular operator Airtel tomorrow (Thursday) will stream -- live -- a full length Hindi movie, "Rok Sako To Rok Lo" ("Stop Me If You Can") to EDGE subscribers in ten Indian cities a day before the movie premieres in theaters, according to an article in CNET News.
Airtel subscribers need to use their EDGE handsets to log onto the operator's Airtel Live portal to view the movie that begins at 3:00 p.m. Indian Standard Time, the article says. The movie can't be downloaded and archived.
CNET doesn't say how much the movie will cost.
The user experience
It will be very interesting to learn how many subscribers view the movie and, just as importantly, how good the experience is. Will the broadcast be smooth -- like using a high speed broadband connection -- or will it be like using a slow dial-up connection?
Sure, EDGE is supposed to deliver a maximum download speed of 384K bps, but how fast will the data rate will be and will Airtel's network be able to handle the demand?
I do believe people will want to use their cellular phones for short videos, but only if the experience is good and the cost is reasonable. As for full length movies, how long will people want to watch a tiny screen?
If you build it they will come! I think their is a market for something like this, but it's going to be small for a while. I wouldn't mind trying something like this out myself, but I can't say if it would be something I would do on a regular basis.
Posted by: Brian | Friday, December 10, 2004 at 01:00 PM