Though statistics might suggest that Americans are just not terribly interested in watching movies on their telephones (Nielsen put the numbers for mobile video penetration at 3% in 2007), there may be some rather drastic changes on the horizon. Not only are more companies creating content specifically for mobile devices, more, like Sony, are targeting the full-length movie audience.

What’s more, on June 9, Steve Jobs is set to announce a new iPhone- and if rumours prove true, this one will be a significant step up from the first model as well as a lot cheaper. While many people may be reluctant to attempt a full-length movie viewing on a tiny cell screen, on a lovely widescreen iPhone it will be a no-brainer. And the host of inevitable copycat devices will mean even more thorough penetration.

Mobile delivery is more complicated for the independent filmmaker than broadband- the gatekeepers are currently a little more reluctant to open up to the floods. There will no doubt emerge easy workarounds so that users can upload whatever appropriately formatted files they wish (much as with ringtones or other mobile files), but the ease of obtaining films from a provider will be hard to compete with. Filmmakers may need to work cooperatively to make sure their mobile files are also easy to obtain and centralized. In this case, it’s pretty easy to imagine the economics heading towards free for the consumer- ad revenue might be the best model, though a subscription service might have some initial traction before competition becomes too fierce.

• DISCUSS THIS Post in discussion

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « You gotta give for what you take
• » Oh. Canada?

• BROWSE / IN digital distribution iPhone mobile video
• « You gotta give for what you take
• » News Round-Up 6/5/08