Ajit Jaokar is the founder of the London based publishing and research company futuretext (
pod2mobile: podcasting on mobile phones
The press release says it all
PODCASTING ON MOBILE PHONES TUNES IN WITH POD2MOB SOFTWARE
PODCAST AUDIENCE SWELLS FROM 25M TO NEARLY 700M MOBILE USERS WORLDWIDE
SOFTWARE SUPPORTS SPRINT PCS, T-MOBILE AND CINGULAR NETWORKS
LOS ANGELES (–August 22, 2005–) Cut the white cord. Pod2Mob (www.pod2mob.com) announced today the launch of its precedent-setting podcast streaming service that enables consumers to listen to their favorite podcasts on their mobile handsets. The launch of the free software, which is first to market, forms a new milestone for mobile media.
The power of wireless couples with the podcasting phenomenon to exponentially expand access to a new medium. The new Pod2Mob application transforms mobile handsets into a podcasting remote, capable of browsing and selecting new shows while listening to the audio directly from the phone.
“Pod2Mob turns every mobile phone into an iPod,” said Brad Zutaut, co-founder. “Until now, Podcasting has been a fun, new medium with a limited audience, but Pod2Mob has just expanded that audience beyond the elite to the mainstream.”
Built-in Audience
A marketing and cultural phenomenon, Apple’s iPod has been purchased by approximately 15M consumers while around 10M own MP3 players thus establishing the existing podcast audience estimated at 25M. The advent of Pod2Mob, however, immediately explodes the potential audience to an estimated 700M, all capable of using Pod2Mob on their mobile phones.
The world’s most popular consumer electronics device, the mobile phone, perfectly extends the explosive podcast movement beyond a single device to hundreds of models of wireless handsets.
According to Gartner Research, sales of mobile phones are set to reach one billion annually by 2009, when nearly 40 percent of the world’s population will own a mobile handset. Gartner’s findings bolster the mobile phone’s status as the world’s most popular electronic device.
Ease of Use
The Pod2Mob application downloads updated podcasts on the go and streams them to an applet on the users mobile phone. Through a thumb-friendly interface, the Pod2Mob applet puts users in full control of remote podcasting. Content can be refreshed as often as desired, but usually once a day since most podcasts are produced daily. Programs are rated by listeners for quality and popularity, and an easily accessible favorites list makes it easy to get your daily fix.
Radio alternative
Alienated by the corporate seizure of traditional broadcast radio, podcasting attracts a younger, more affluent demographic and offers the ability to listen to whatever they want, whenever they want, whether it be on the metro or on the back porch. All age groups are increasingly dissatisfied with the diversity of programming in radio. Podcasting offers a compelling alternative as it represents an interactive pull medium rather than the passive push medium of traditional radio, implying the user has genuine interest in the selected program.
Time shifting
TiVo has clearly established that consumers prefer to have their media time shifted. Pod2Mob represents the ultimate in time –and place — shifting allowing the user to listen to what they want whenever they want and wherever they want. While TiVo provided a hardware solution, Pod2Mob is quick software download that empowers hundreds of millions of people to transform the mobile phones they already have into an enormous broadcasting network overnight.
Zutaut added, “Your phone is always with you, even when you forget your iPod. We built Pod2Mob so that people with the most basic handsets could start listening to the podcast shows they are hearing so much about. If you have a phone, you don’t have to wait to sync, you can get the latest podcasts on the fly. The ability to listen to radio shows on demand increases their value significantly.”
Select Pod2Mob features:
Open directory where users can add their podcast feeds and the system automatically tracks updates
Stream any podcast to the phone
Rate any podcast from the phone
Favorites: ability for users to store a list of their favorite podcasts
About Pod2Mob
Based in Los Angeles, California, Pod2Mob is a software publisher dedicated to the expansion of personal portable media. The founders of the company are a balance of promising prodigies and well weathered pioneers of the digital revolution. Pod2Mob aims to offer audiences easier access to media while expanding the vision of the market for content producers and publishers. For more information, please visit: http://www.pod2mobile.com
Source: http://www.pod2mob.com/main/pr1
