To be more specific, DVB-H appears to be coming to Symbian and Series 60; DiBcom and Atelier are joining forces to ease integration of DiBcom's mobile broadcast digital TV chipset into Symbian-based smartphones and reference designs by providing handset manufacturers, semiconductor vendors and original design manufacturers worldwide with hardware, driver and middleware software as well as Mobile TV integration services for Symbian OS-based smartphones.
DVB-H, the specification for bringing broadcast services to handheld receivers, was formally adopted as an European Telecommunications Standards Institute standard in 2004, and technical trials of DVB-H services are currently under way or planned in Germany (Berlin), Finland (Helsinki) and the USA (Pittsburgh) Australia, France and the UK (Oxford) (The Nokia 7710 pictured is a Symbian S90 device which is being used in this trial.)
Of course, it's chief competitor, satellite DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) already has remarkable coverage and supporting handsets available, albeit only in Korea. Other competitors include the mobile data services, such as 3G and even GPRS, which are able to provide "mobile TV" of a sort - but the data services require specially formatted video, which has been rare.
Perhaps the more insidious competitor is the 5th Generation iPod. The device has newly added support for video, the rudiments of a distribution system in place, and is likely to become ubiquitous within the next year - and remember that there are many other competing products in the "portable video player" arena.
We think that mobile phones are actually the best placed to take advantage of any explosion in demand for mobile TV, mainly because we are firm believers in convergence; and the mobile phone, more than a gaming device or a portable music player, has become de rigueur for the peoples of the world. There will undoubtably be problems (this BBC article has a particularly good roundup) but who won't mind having the option?
