Updated: Wrote this post last year before the iPhone 3GS launch, obviously that version didn’t have video calling or mobile tv as its core features but could that change this year? I was a thinking a bit too far ahead last year but now it seems other blogs are mentioning the same thing.

Rumours (and screenshots) are flying round featuring a front facing iPhone camera…9to5Mac has a post with all the theories. Remember the iPhone can’t save video calling on its own, operators will need to create unlimited bundles with standard tariffs otherwise it’s not going to be able to sustain the initial uplift. Maybe this is the kick start video calling needs to begin lowering prices?

Check out the new image and original post below:

The new iPhone is due to be announced soon and I have the feeling that it’s about to change the way people use (and perceive) Video Calling and mobile TV. The two services desperately need a jump start and have been poorly received by consumers for years.

As a consumer I know that Mobile TV is very appealing, I can’t tell you the amount of times I have been out and wanted to catch the football or a episode of Californication. Even at my desk, I can’t be bothered to keep turning my head to watch the plasma and would gladly have a phone in front of me with the TV on. The proposition isn’t hard for the consumer to understand, it’s TV that you love and know…on your phone. Simple.

However the price has always been far too high , I’ve found that most people don’t know that their operator offers TV and the ones that do think it’s too expensive to take up. Currently the price sits at around £3 per month on Vodafone to £8.99 per month on Orange…That’s 35% of my line rental!

Video Calling is just as expensive, on Orange it costs 50p per minute to call someone on another network. Video Calling is a service I would dip in and out of but why would I ever bother at those prices? I know many things have been listed on why video calling isn’t popular, everything from unflattering camera angles to human nature but lets face it, cost is usually king and if it was free people would use it more. Plus video calling is aching for a sprinkling of decent Apple-style user experience.

Apple certainly has the power to tell networks that it wants consumers to be given unlimited video calling and Mobile TV tariffs with new iPhones. It’s my belief  that when you take cost concerns out of the equation you can instantly change user behavior, that coupled with Apple user interface expertise could completely set a new standard for Mobile TV and Video Calling.

So would operators offer Mobile TV for free? Well we know that operators bend over backwards for Apple and news about the upgrades currently being done by networks is surfacing.

I once worked on a project which looked at inserting video ads inbetween Mobile TV programs which were different from what was being broadcast on actual TV. This meant that the ads could be more relevant for the mobile device and even use location. The ads can have mobile call to actions and click throughs which you can’t obviously do on a normal TV. Video ads generate a higher CPM than graphic and text ads so this could be the swaying point for operators.

Lets wait and see if Mobile TV and Video Calling appear on the new iPhone.

Nokia recently revealed the absolute ass-whooping the Ovi Store is receiving in comparison to the iPhone App Store.

The announcement at Nokia World confirmed that since May 26th, users have downloaded 10 million pieces of content from the Ovi Store. Compare this to iPhone App Store which surpassed 100 million downloads in the first two months and 1.5 billion after a year. The Ovi Store supports 100 Nokia devices and the iPhone App Store supports, wait for it…2.

Now remember ‘pieces of content’ doesn’t just mean apps but also lame things like ringtones, wallpapers, etc count too. I wonder how much of that 10 million is actual apps?

The Ovi Store had huge technical problems on the first day, Nokia underestimated the demand and consequently suffered outages meaning that for many people, it was over before it started.

The technical issues weren’t the only problems with the Ovi Store user experience. The Ovi Store requires the CRAZY backwards step of having to find, download and install the Ovi Store client before you can use it.

If I wasn’t a mobile phone enthusiast I would have given up on the Ovi Store the very first day it was launched. Apart from the Nokia server problems it took around 3 tries and 40 minutes to set up on my phone. The end result was a clunky and slow store with some poor quality applications that neither provided a good service or enhanced the handset.

The process that I had to go through makes me wonder how many regular mobile users actually bothered to try the Ovi Store or did the majority of the 10 million downloads just come from tech heads, phone geeks and fanboys? Consumers and brands don’t really seem to know or care about the Ovi Store.

Nokia still don’t understand how important experience is these days. No longer can they get away with endless menus, crap graphics, unintuitive interfaces and poor end products. Consumers eyes have been opened by the iPhone and Android, they expect working services and high standards as well as amazing apps.

Considering the poor download figures for Ovi Store the decision not to develop a Facebook app sooner has clearly cost Nokia. Facebook has 300 million users yet still no Nokia application. Madness.

I really don’t see a bright future for Nokia unless they do something drastic. They really should get rid of Symbian and try Android. The more they build on top of Symbian the worse it gets, the N-Series phones can barely handle flicking through the menus after 6 months of use.

‘Innovate or die’ seems to fit Nokias situation perfectly.Market share is constantly being lost to Apple, Rim and Samsung, how long before Nokia are at 20% share of the market (down from 50%)? 2 maybe 3 years?

Decisions like releasing the 5800 Xpress Music phone with a stylus was just embarrassing. Yeah take that Apple! We’ll show you and your glossy touchscreen – look at our tiny little plastic pen thing, wait… oh we’ve lost it on the bus. Nevermind.