Like water and electricity, consumers expect functionality and consistency at the flip of a switch. Beyond mere potential, quality of experience (QoE) is the voltage that will either charge the MobileTV industry or create a barrier to mass adoption.

Telecom carriers know that QoE is the basis for the growth of mobile television. And with over one billion cell phones in the world today, and as many as two billion projected by 2012, mobile TV has the potential to have as profound an impact on civilization over the next fifty years as broadcast television had during the previous fifty. Yet, despite years of hype, delivery of the world's number-one mass communication medium to the mobile device still has hurdles to overcome before realizing its potential. As Charles Shultz pointed out, “There is no greater burden than great potential.”

Ever since mobile TV’s debut, consumers have maintained that it is far from the quality of service already enjoyed by traditional television viewers. In 2006, a survey of 22,000 European mobile television users found that former users of mobile TV and video now outnumber current users by more than 19 percent. The research cited reliability, quality and price as the main issues of concern. In fact, between 24 percent and 29 percent of the respondents who had tried mobile TV said they stopped using it because of poor quality and reliability.

The mobile industry is still defining the future of mobile TV. As with all emerging technologies there seems to be no end to the number of questions around technology standards, delivery options and business models.

• Will the ideal video content be original or repurposed from traditional television?
• Will it be long-form or short?
• Will it continue to be downloaded via a unicast model, or will the new broadcast networks take over from here?

The important thing to keep in mind is that behind the myriad of technology and content alternatives, mobile television is ultimately a service. All services require that a quality experience be achieved for the technology to be accepted by users. When it comes to mobile TV, quality (like beauty) is in the eye of the beholder. Even seemingly minor issues like slow, jittery startup, taking too long (10 seconds) to switch into TV mode, and occasionally skipping a few frames can result in a poor user experience and a lost subscriber. Lack of quality in the user experience using new mobile technologies can hinder the economic growth possibilities for the entire industry.

The Importance of Software in Creating Quality Experiences

Network architectures are evolving to address the rapid emergence of converged multimedia applications like mobile TV. The evolution to “next-generation.” IP-based networks is sparking a need for new categories of network equipment that includes media gateways, media gateway controllers (soft switches), session border controllers, enhanced wireless base stations and multimedia enabled mobile handsets.

In addition to new equipment categories, the promise of mobile convergence has ushered in an overriding requirement for carrier-grade software platforms that provide the foundation for high quality services. In fact, with today’s highly sophisticated multimedia devices, it is software, more than hardware, that has set the stage for creating and delivering a great consumer experience.

In particular, the close proximity to and dependence on the underlying hardware, coupled with the desire to wring out every ounce of performance and scalability, makes it difficult to build portable software architecture with a high level of abstraction. In addition, to be considered “Carrier-grade,” the software has to fill a number of demanding reliability requirements that include:

• High performance that scales with hardware and is capable of supporting a large number of simultaneous sessions
• Scalability: from small to very large configurations
• Small and controlled error recovery domains that support effective error isolation
• Hardware and software upgrade capabilities with minimal service interruptions
• Easy and efficient adaptation of protocols and interoperability across systems
• Configurable security that can provide a high level of safety and protection
• Controlled and extended life cycle of hardware and software components
• Support for a rich mix of general purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), network processors (NPs), storage, and input/output (I/O) devices
• Interoperability with multiple network elements

The highly distributed nature of next-generation network systems (including mobile handsets) adds still another degree of complexity. Developing real-time applications for a single operating system running on a single processor is challenging enough. Distributing those applications across multiple pieces of equipment running multiple operating systems on multiple processors is another matter. The requirement for highly reliable system-wide communications, supervision, and management dramatically increases development and deployment complexity.

Lessons Learned from IPTV

After years of promise and potential, 2006 was supposed to mark the beginning of widespread IPTV deployment in the United States. According to Strategy Analytics, the number of IPTV deployments in the US is expected to reach 1 million households in 2007. AT&T, the largest U.S. service provider, launched its U-verse IPTV service in 2006 with a goal of reaching 15 markets. In early 2007 the company publicly admitted that middleware issues were delaying deployment. Chris Rice, AT&T’s Chief Technology Officer recently told Business Week that deploying IPTV was “a lot more complex than people thought it would be.”

According to Len Feldman, director of IPTV analysis for Multimedia Research Group (MRG), the middleware layer in question may have been built on an architecture that was not designed for real-time performance. The result was slow channel changing. In an attempt to fix the problem, more hardware was added to the system (in the form of additional servers), but apparently that only made the situation worse.

This raises the question, “Could slow channel changing actually hamper the deployment of IPTV?”

It certainly can if the customer base is comprised of cable or satellite TV channel surfers, where there is an acutely developed expectation for rapid channel change response. Pass the remote, please!

According to estimates from the Yankee Group, the first year installation and support costs for a new IPTV customer can be up to $700. Total customer acquisition costs are actually much higher when marketing expenses are factored in. Losing a customer during that first year due to slow channel changing, caused by a software issue, is expensive. The fact that initial IPTV customers tend to be early adopters, notorious for being extremely vocal about their experiences, only makes it worse.

When providing a service, especially a new service that comes with pre-existing quality expectations, companies need to get it right for every customer or risk permanently losing those customers and those they talk to (the corresponding revenue).

The Role of Commercial Software Platforms

Manufacturing a software platform that meets the quality and reliability expectations of network operators requires a significant investment of time and engineering resources – one that distracts from creating and delivering mobile applications. In order to enable the industry to accelerate the delivery of innovative applications and services, a group of leading Network Equipment Providers including Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, NEC, Nokia and Siemens, have formed an alliance (SCOPE) to enable and promote a vibrant ecosystem of Commercial Off-the-Shelf software solutions (COTS) for next generation mobile networks.

Organized as a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization, the SCOPE alliance has committed to identify, prioritize and make public lists of suggested open standards, specifications and associated content that best fit the requirements of carrier-grade platforms. Well-defined profiles are being developed to encourage the broadest possible ecosystem of suppliers from which to choose hardware and software. The end goal is to enable a healthy competitive environment of multiple vendors that offer standards-based solutions with interchangeability and compatibility of components and true application portability.

A well-built COTS platform provides a necessary layer of abstraction that separates a user-friendly application from the complexities of the underlying hardware. The layered architecture, coupled with standards-based interfaces and intuitive, well-documented APIs, eases integration with other network equipment and enhances portability, enabling operators to upgrade their hardware and software with minimal disruption to applications. Additionally, COTS platforms are proven to reduce equipment development costs, savings that ultimately manifest themselves as reduced CAPEX and OPEX for service providers.

The key to winning and retaining consumers is not about having the best devices or the broadest range of content. It’s about delivering a high quality experience - one that provides compelling value and is intuitive and easy to use. And, in order to secure and maintain a leadership position in what promises to be a highly competitive market, vendors will have to master software development for mobile devices.

Today’s carrier grade COTS software platforms can help bridge the gap between hardware and content. They provide a sustainable, competitive advantage in developing and deploying the equipment needed to accelerate the adoption of mobile TV.

John Smolucha is the vice president of marketing and business development for Enea.