Satellite TV on mobile devices

Seems that TV is indisputably the next killer app for mobile devices (in the sense that it kills more braincells, if nothing else). Vodafone Japan's launching handsets with analogue TV tuners as fast as it can get them out of the door, and now a company with satellites dedicated to broadcasting for mobile devices is getting ready to launch. Mobile Broadcasting successfully put its first satellite into orbit last month, and says it will have 40 channels of multimedia TV and radio broadcasting ready to go in July this year.

Test broadcasts started up in late April, and hardware manufacturers are apparently in the process of using these to tweak whatever gadgets they have planned. News on these is scarce to nonexistent at the moment--it's not clear if the technology is far enough along that a receiver could be crammed into a cellphone or PDA, or whether we should expect some sort of handheld TV with a few extra bells and whistles.

[Via K-Tai Watch (Japanese)]