TiVo Mobile on Verizon Wireless

[SystemJinx]

TiVo finally gets around to releasing TiVo Mobile on Verizon

Posted Mar 14th 2007 4:50PM by Evan Blass

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment

Proving that a desirable feature is better delivered late than never, TiVo has finally gotten around to releasing its TiVo Mobile remote scheduling program for select Verizon phones -- over a year after we first caught wind of the Java-based app.

No real surprises here: you use Get It Now to download the application, and for $1.99 a month you get access to your Series2 or Series3 box through that familiar interface, along with special recommendation lists, popular show charts, and the always-hot "premium entertainment content." Not a bad deal considering that we once thought this would cost five bones a month, but the catch is that only certain handsets are currently compatible, including the SCH-a950, VX8300, and of course, the beloved Chocolate.

Sure you could do the whole dial-a-recording before with your Pocket PC phone and Orb plug-in -- and that even lets you stream the swag you've taped -- but the more people who take the TiVo-approved route, the sooner we can put the kibosh on that nasty TiVo Deathwatch.

Original Article (http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/14/tivo-finally-gets-around-to-releasing-tivo-mobile-on-verizon/)

[Amnesia]

Why would anyone pay $2 a month just for the ability to schedule recordings from their phone?

[SystemJinx]

It's not $2.00. It's only $1.99. :p

[ashu]

Why would anyone use a crippled cellphone from a restrictive corporation when ANY web-enabled cellphone with any other provider (GSM) would run an alternative browser and let you actually log in to TiVo's website and do it anyway?
[/Verizon disapprover rant]

[MichaelK]

you can use your verizon "smartphone" to browse to the tivo website just fine. Tivo would be better served in my opinion to create a treo/mobile internet explorer sized page or even a wap version. How many people are really going to bother to spend 199 a month using one of the 3 phones? And then what will tivo get 3 cents each? It's stupid- they should have gone the generic route...

[ashu]

they should have gone the generic route...

In their defense, the 'generic route' isn't a 'deal' between two companies (one of whom is considered a market leader in coverage, if not phones and policies ;) ) and just isn't news- or buzz-worthy, both of which are very critical to keeping new customers and stock investors interested :)

[Amnesia]

Stock investors, yes. Customers, no.

Why should customers prefer the $2/mth restricted version instead of the generic free version?

[ashu]

I guess I mean 'potential' new customers ... sellin point. Although once they buy that TRiVo and stop by here, they'll know they don't need Verizon ;)

[MichaelK]

I just figure at this point they are trying to gain differentiation and feature set over the generic cable dvr's. For example they apparently aren't making anything from the Amazon Unbox deal- they theory is it ads tons of value so money isn't that important. I'd argue that a generic WAP website would add much more value then the 26 dollars a month they are likely to make in profit from the verizon deal. Verizon takes a cut. There's a press release floating around that Tivo used someone else to create the interface so they need to get a cut. What's left for tivo?

So they are making little money, it's limited to a quarter or a third of the cell phone audience. And how many people will value it enough to pay 2 bucks a month?

Poor strategic thinking in my mind that's all.

[ZeoTiVo]

eh, a phone company offered to make a WAP enabled scheduling service and ask TiVo for the right to do that. TiVo said sure, we don't have the resources devoted to that any time in the forseeable future.

what is the big deal other than not having a WAP enabled version of the TCO?

[Amnesia]

No big deal. Just not worth paying $24/year for...

[MichaelK]

I doubt that VZ asked tivo for anything.

Tivo volunteered I'm sure and approached them.

It's NOT WAP- if it was WAP than tivo could have done it themself without vz caring and could offer it to anyone.

In face it appears that tivo PAID someone else to set up a system for them to do it:
http://www.nwinnovation.com/story/0008064.html

Action Engine specializes in designing user interfaces for mobile devices. Its Mobile Application Platform, a version of which was adopted for TiVo Mobile, incorporates a browserless, client-server approach to mobile search content that the firm says requires 80 percent fewer keystrokes and produces significantly faster response times than competing products.


they could have paid someone a lot less and then made it work for everyone and it would be yet another selling point like amazon.

Now it's a hookie niche add-on that likley will have a tiny take rate that doesn't seem likley to make tivo any significant money and can't be used as a major selling point.

At least they got ovedr the $5 a month fee and made it $2....

[alansh]

Well, I thought I'd blow the $2 to let you know how it works.

Not great. Only the "Daily Picks" and "Most Popular Shows" show any listings. Searching or browsing through the other options always returns "No results were found matching your request."