Positive results from a survey of more than 3000 Japanese consumers have encouraged QUALCOMM to prepare for a commercial launch of its MediaFLO mobile TV service in that country. Among other items, the survey found that subscribers are far more likely to adopt mobile broadcast services when they experience it firsthand.
Accenture Japan, which conducted the survey on behalf of MediaFLO Japan Planning — a joint venture between Japanese telco KDDI and QUALCOMM formed last year to pursue the possibility of providing MediaFLO in Japan — found that out of a group of users given the opportunity to test mobile devices equipped with the MediaFLO service, 83 percent responded that they intended to use the service. In contrast, only 52 percent of respondents to an online survey describing the service (where the users did not get access to the service) said they would use it.
The survey also found that 92 percent of the handset users responded positively to the picture quality and clarity of movement demonstrated by MediaFLO, while some 87 percent found the usability of the electronic programming guide to be positive. Almost half of the respondents indicated they would use the service most while traveling to school or to work, with the most desirable content being news programming, movies and anime. In addition, 45 percent of respondents indicated they would like to see 31 channels or more of content.
Japanese consumers already have access to free mobile TV broadcasts through the ISDB-T signal delivery format, but QUALCOMM seems confident that they will be willing to pay for the MediaFLO service. Kazuhiko Masuda, president of MediaFLO Japan Planning, stated in a press release announcing the survey results that his company was "convinced" that paid mobile broadcasting services would attract Japanese customers and that he felt both the ISDB-T and MediaFLO formats could coexist in the country.
For more information, visit www.mediaflo.com.
