US : QUALCOMM and KDDI Corporation, who together established MediaFLO Japan Planning Incorporated in December 2005 to pursue the possibility of providing MediaFLO(TM)service in Japan, today announced encouraging results from an extensive consumer survey of attitudes towards mobile TV. The survey, which was conducted by Accenture Japan Ltd., and included more than 3,000 Japanese consumers, showed that subscribers are far more likely to take up mobile broadcast services when they experience it firsthand, and it provides compelling evidence for the commercial viability of MediaFLO services in the Japanese market.

"We are convinced that the survey results illustrate that paid mobile broadcasting services are attractive to Japanese customers despite the availability of the free ISDB-T service, and we believe that both services can coexist," said Kazuhiko Masuda, president of MediaFLO Japan Planning Incorporated. "Based on these extremely positive results, MediaFLO Japan Planning Incorporated intends to move forward with preparations for a commercial service in Japan."

MediaFLO technology offers several advantages over other mobile multicast technologies because it is engineered specifically for the mobile environment. These include higher-quality video and audio, faster channel switching time, superior mobile reception, optimized power consumption and greater capacity than other multicast technologies. Because of its superior throughput and efficient use of spectrum, MediaFLO technology can support more content channels (in the same frequency band) than competing technologies, depending on channel bandwidth allocation. 

"We see Japan as a leading market for deployment of advanced mobile

services like mobile TV," said Peggy Johnson, president, QUALCOMM Internet Services and MediaFLO Technologies. "The survey results demonstrate the full potential of multichannel broadcasting in Japan, and we will continue to work with KDDI to make MediaFLO available to Japanese consumers. We believe that MediaFLO is the right mobile broadcasting technology for the demanding Japanese audience."

The survey yielded notable results in three key categories:

User Intention

• ·        The survey clearly showed that mobile broadcast is an experience-driven service in that people's intention to use the service increased the more they understood the service
• ·        41 percent of survey respondents said that they intended to use mobile broadcast services
• ·        83 percent of focus group testers -- users who were given the opportunity to try out the service -- responded that they intended to use the service
• ·        This result was significantly higher than positive online survey respondents (52 percent)

Service Requirements

• ·        Approximately 40 percent of respondents wanted to use the service "while traveling to school or work"
• ·        Broken down by genre, the most desirable content was "News" and "Movies/Drama/Anime"
• ·        Respondents expressed interest in each of MediaFLO's four service features: video streaming, audio streaming, Clipcasting(TM) and IP datacasting
• ·        92 percent of handset users responded positively to the picture quality and clarity of movement, while some 87 percent were positive about the usability of the electronic program guide
• ·        45 percent of respondents indicated that they wanted 31 channels or more, and thus the service caters to this demand for multichannel broadcasting

 

Potential Market Size

• ·        The potential Japanese market size for paid multichannel broadcasting to mobile phones within five years of service launch is estimated to be as large as 450 billion yen ($3.8 billion) with about 40 million users
• ·        The potential economic benefit to the market of a mobile broadcast service launch is estimated to be some 1.9 trillion yen ($16 billion)

 

The MediaFLO System is an end-to-end solution that enables broadcasting of high-quality video, audio streams, Clipcasting media and IP datacasting to mobile handsets. The MediaFLO System is a manageable, scalable, subscription- based distribution system and an efficient over-the-air network solution that provides wireless operators a way to cost-effectively deliver the high-quality audio and video content their subscribers desire.