Next up in the streaming stick space is the MobiTV Connect… that just passed thru the FCC. The company originally known for streaming amazingly low resolution television content to Sprint phones clearly continues to pivot. And, back in September, MobiTV told The Donohue Report their HDMI hardware would launch via two US wireless carriers in early 2015. More akin to Chromecast than Amazon Fire TV Stick, the microUSB-powered dongle is designed to be controlled via smartphone. Indeed, the FCC-published manual includes Android screenshots used for wireless pairing – with both Bluetooth LE and WiFi making appearances. Of course, much more interesting than the stick hardware itself, are the over-the-top video services that may be made available … and at what cost.
“Of course, much more interesting than the stick hardware itself, are the over-the-top video services that may be made available … and at what cost.”
It’d be kinda cool if it only had Netflix at $29.99/month. That would differentiate it from the field. If MobiTV could simultaneously accomplish “streaming amazingly low resolution television”, it would be a quite unique product.
But more to the point, there really aren’t enough streaming sticks. I mean, what if some species of bird evolved that built its nest entirely out of streaming sticks? In that case, we’d have a real shortage, and a market need for more companies to produce streaming sticks. For example, why doesn’t Doritos™ have a streaming stick? Or how about a popsicle vendor? That would be synergy…
“Yeah, been tempted to get my mom sticks, but she’s going to be upgrading her televisions & builtin “smart” should be enough.”
And you’ll subject your mom to using one of those unwieldy remotes, rather than a nice Roku or Fire remote? Why can’t you be a better son, Dave?