It’s no secret, that video-telephony is not a "killer application" but a shelve warmer for mobile operators around the world. Video-telephony had to pay for a outstanding unique selling proposition for 3G or UMTS mobile phones over and over again. But it wasn’t convincing customers.
Now, Ericsson introduced a new 3G mobile application with the TV-production-company Endemol from the Netherlands: Me-On-TV. It’s basically nothing more than the possibility to video-call into a television show with your 3G cell phone. But as simple as the application looks from the user point of view – as successful it can be!
It reminds me of the measures to introduce the telephone in Europe at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century: At that time, only a few people had a telephone – so you were not able to call somebody with your expensive phone. So, a new service called "Theatrophon" was introduced in Europe which enabled the users to dial into a concert hall an listen to the performance.
In present times of web 2.0 and user created content this means to dial into a television show with your 3G-phone. And there are many other application coming to my mind using that technology …
Sources & Photo: ericsson.com, endemol.nl