WTFH: From podcasts to cellcasts
by at April 27, 2006 6:33 pm
Sections: Cellphones, Features, Portable Audio, WTFH
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What the future holds is a column written every Thursday by Adam Berger about the future of technology.
I assume that the one gadget you will always have with you is your cell phone. I have written previously about the benefits of replacing an iPod or other MP3 player with your cell phone so why not podcasts too? There actually are many podcasting fans that are moving to mobile phones, which increasingly boast more computer-like features than your everyday MP3 player. It makes sense right, there are tens of millions of iPods and about 700 million PCs already capable of playing podcasts. These are small numbers compared with the 2 billion mobile phones now in use around the world.
New software from Pod2Mobile and UpSnap allows cell phone users to download and listen to podcasts wirelessly, cutting the PC and portable music player out of the equation. Read about the services that are offering these cellcasts.
With UpSnap, which launched 100 free mobile podcasts on March 27, you can simply dial a number to listen to your program from your phone. In a few weeks, the service will also allow users to get podcasts to their phones wirelessly by sending UpSnap a text message. Rival Pod2Mob allows for the text message feature and has built a user base in excess of 100,000 since its launch last summer. Like a particular podcast? Share it with your friends by sending them a text message, or send the sound file directly to their phone via Bluetooth.
Mobile podcasts are expected to become different from their PC- and iPod-based cousins by becoming shorter. Perhaps a longer broadcast would be sliced into 30-second “chapters,” so that if users are interrupted by a call, they don’t have to listen to the program from the beginning again.
In many ways, advertising on mobile podcasts makes more sense than plain podcast ads. As with a video iPod, a cell phone ad can feature audio, graphics, or video. With a phone, though, a user can immediately respond by calling a marketer’s call center or by wirelessly surfing the advertiser’s Web site.
Read [Mac News World]
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