Bitbop – Movie Streaming Service For Phones
So here’s how the service works. With a $9.99 a month subscription to Bitbop’s mobile app, smartphone owners can stream high quality on-demand television and film content over both WiFi and 3G networks. The service will initially support Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone devices. A free version of the mobile app for each platform offers access to short previews and trailers. Paying the subscription fee will unlock access to the full content. After a look through Bitbop’s press release, a launch date still hadn’t been announce, but in my conversation with Hoerenz, I was only told “soon.” As of now, Bitbop’s website only displays a temporary placeholder for early adopters to request invitations to the beta version.
I was lucky enough to have a chance to demo the service on Motorola Droid and BlackBerry smartphone. The interface was actually quite well designed and had essential features such as a queue to lineup your favorite shows for back-to-back viewing. I had a chance to watch about a minute of a recent episode of The Office and the video quality looked phenomenal. I should note that I wasn’t told whether the content was getting delivered on a 3G or WiFi network or if it was a download for offline viewing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the quality differed over a 3G network.
While the entire idea sounds exciting, it’s hard to tell whether customers will be wiling to pay for a monthly fee for a service that only works on smartphones. For instance, the majority of people I know, myself included, resort to Hulu for enjoying television content rather than forking a few bucks to iTunes for a single ad-free episode. For those willing to pay the fee, services such as SlingBox’s Mobile SlingPlayer already offers access to live content and even recorded content on a home DVR. And finally, with Netflix entering the mobile arena launching on Windows Phone 7 Series later this year, a subscription model that ties in with existing services could possibly fare better with customers.
I expressed those concerns to Hoerenz and Joe Bilman, the Executive Vice President at Fox Mobile Group, they both naturally seemed confident and stated that they foresee a successful launch. With the power of Fox to back Bitbop and a very slim number of contenders offering premium video content with subscription-based model in the mobile market, there’s a good chance that Bitbop will find a set of customers and a place for itself.
Links: Bitbop.com