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Consumer adoption of mobile TV: Examining psychological flow and media content

In this research report, the authors tried to investigate the survival of the television-like, mobile TV. Based on the theoretical assumptions of the technology acceptance model (TAM), the researchers examined the influences of cognitive concentration (or flow experience) and media content on consumers‘ acceptance of mobile TV. Mobile TV is thought of the next killer application to boost the mobile industry and, according to the marketing survey, wireless consumers are also highly looking forward to this fantastic content service.

In this paper, the researchers introduced two standards for mobile TV service which are the digital video broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H), and the digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB). DVB-H has been tested mainly in European countries and the leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is ready to support this standard. In 2007, Nokia unveiled the first DVB-H mobile TV handset in Taiwan. On the other hand, some American wireless providers in support of this standard have started to cooperate with TV program companies to get the most popular content online. For the DMB, it is an advanced version of digital audio broadcasting that was initiated in the Unite States and European countries in 1990s.  However, DMB was popularly adopted in Japan especially for in-automobile terminals in 2004 and, in 2006, Korea also adopted this technology to provide wireless TV services to both in-automobile terminals and mobile TV consumers.

In North America, it is estimated that by the year 2011 more than 27 million wireless subscribers will spend an estimated $2.3 billion to access mobile TV. Moreover, it is expected that $841 million will be spent in advertising agency costs in support of mobile TV (Hyers, 2006). The data shows the prospects of wireless industry are brightening.

However, before the true advent of mobile TV era, the researchers indicated that there are still some problems to keep mobile TV service from success. These obstacles in technological aspect include the short battery life and the small screen size of handsets and the defective quality of service such as asynchronous mismatch between video and audio stream. They also pointed out that the current content of mobile TV is not good enough to attract consumers. In addition, the researchers indicate that Mobile TV users generally use the service in an unstable situation. Users typically use mobile TV during their commute or in short spare moments on the road or in the line waiting for a table or tickets. In this paper, the author also presented a scene that is happening often on the transportation. “Imagine an individual using mobile TV in a crowded space like in subway or in a bus. In these situations the individual may have to constantly check for his/her arrival at the destination“. In this case, the author called that distracted situations combined with technological drawback (e.g., flawed scenes, difficulty to use a device) and boring content result in significant degradation in users‘ concentration on mobile TV.

The theory of the technology acceptance model (TAM) describes that an individual’s behavioral intention to accept a technology depends on two beliefs: perceived usefulness (PU), defined as the extent to which a person believes that using the technology will enhance his or her job performance, and perceived ease of use (PEOU), defined as the extent which a person believes that using the technology will be free of effort (Davis, 1989). Of course, the new technology should be easier to use. The simple operation of using mobile TV is a must and has better to parallel with that of watching home TV. Therefore, the design of a user-friendly interface on this small device would be a challenge.

Actually, mobile TV can be used to offer information on instant news report, weather or transportation, but the current use of mobile TV is mainly entertainment-oriented. Wireless providers should deal with the content more carefully to meet the needs of consumers. As the author mentioned that PU has a direct influence on users’ acceptance intention, because users will be more willing to adopt a technology if they can gain far more utility rather than suffer from it. On the other hand, PEOU affects both acceptance intention and perceived usefulness. The easier it is for an individual to interact with a technology, the more likely the individual will find it useful and intend to use it.

In conclusion, content is the most crucial factor to the future of mobile TV. The researchers emphasized that the content may be considered the root incentive for consumers‘ acceptance of mobile TV. A positive assessment of content greatly enhances users’ cognitive concentration and perceived usefulness, which are two main elements driving behavioral intention. I think offering satisfactory content is the first key to mobile TV, because early adopters of this service would have large tolerance to the flawed technology. As engineers constantly improve this technology and the mobile TV service reaches a critical mass of population, it is the true era that mobile TV comes into fruition.

Questions:

What kinds of content would you like to watch on the mobile phone and what kinds of programs will appeal you?

Which country or culture is more likely to accept mobile TV and why?

What benefits do you want to gain from mobile TV?

Reference:

Davis, 1989 F.D. Davis, Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology, MIS Quarterly 13 (1989), pp. 319–340. Full Text via CrossRef

Hyers, 2006 Hyers, K. (2006). US mobile broadcast video market: Five predictions. ABI Research.

Yung, Y. et al. (2009). Consumer adoption of mobile TV: Examining psychological flow and medianext term content. Computers in Human Behavior 25(1).

http://mobiletv.nokia.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox0gdeygCTs