What happened to "old-school" mobile video?

The original mobile video

In 2010, video accounted for 40% of total US wireless network traffic, and 90% of the mobile video is consumed by 10% of the US population

That is what Bytemobile found in there study of the mobile video market in 2010. So that means that since 40% of the wireless traffic is video, 10% of the population consumes 90% of the video, then it’s safe to say that 10% of the US population consumes 36% of the total wireless traffic. Bytemobile goes on to project that in 2011, video will account for 60% of the traffic. Assuming the same 10% of the population consume 90% of the video, then we are looking at 10% of the population controlling more than half (54%) of the total wireless traffic. Hence, the reason for tiered pricing and data caps deployed by the wireless carriers.

Today, like 90% of consumers, I am not in that 10% corner, consuming hours of mobile video. I just don’t seem to get the same enjoyment from watching video on a 3-inch screen. But say I jump on this 3G/4G tablet craze and suddenly my screen is 10-inches, then I, as well as millions of others, may jump on the mobile video bandwagon. So that 10% number may not stick in 2011. After all, that 20% growth in video traffic has to be attributed to increased demand, meaning an increased % of the population consuming mobile video.

Maybe it’s a Gen Y thing. Being a Gen X’r, I am more of a planner. If I am going to use a mobile device to watch video, it’s probably video I downloaded to my hard drive and sync’d to my phone or tablet. Rarely do I have the urge to watch YouTube, or stream a movie from Netflix on my phone.

What I would like is more storage for my mobile device. Say a hard drive packed with video, music, photos that could wirelessly connect to my phone, tablet, etc. (Remember Seagate’s DAVE design concept? Maybe it was way before it’s time.) I don’t have to worry about data caps, or bandwidth constraints, or incurring charges. I have complete control. Then I have the best of both worlds… I have access to video I have downloaded or created, plus, should I join the mobile video revolution, I can always check out a YouTube video or Bears v Packers highlights from the NFC Championship game on ESPN Mobile, should I have the urge.

Mobile video used to mean playing a movie saved on your laptop’s hard drive…that definition does not have to go away entirely.

Call me old-school.

Image by: http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/06/16/summer-media-the-drive-in-theater/