The opportunity to watch online video content on TV is stymied by the cost of the technology, but not consumer interest. According to E-Poll’s “Multi-Platform Viewing of Video Content,” cited in an eMarketer report last week, about half of TV viewers said they would like to be able to transfer online video to TV, but only 17 percent would pay $100 or more for a device.
The report found young teens the best market, because more than half own and use a computer, TV, VCR, DVD player and mobile phone on a regular basis, according to a Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg survey from last summer.
“Things are changing quickly, and it’s likely that teens are much more familiar with the various ways they can watch video,” said eMarketer Senior Analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “Young people will expect to be able to watch TV anywhere, any time. It will be a part of their everyday life, just as mobile phones are today.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More