Verizon reveals more handsets as MediaFLO gains traction

Verizon Wireless today revealed its LG Voyager, the second handset announced in the past week to support Qualcomm subsidiary MediaFLO USA’s mobile video technology. Motorola unveiled its mobile TV handset, the MOTORIZR Z6tv, last Friday.

Still in its first six months of commercial operation, the Voyager and Z6tv join the Samsung SCH-u620 and the LG VX9400 as the first four phones offering consumers TV over MediaFLO. Both MediaFLO and analysts confirmed that consumers can expect to see more TV handsets on the market from several vendors in time for the holiday season.

Avi Greengart, principal analyst with Current Analysis, said that mobile TV is still in the early stages of development. Consumers need to be educated on what the service actually entails and the differences between home TV sets and mobile TV, he said. There has not been proven demand—however, Verizon Wireless seems content with its progress so far, Greengart said.

“Verizon claims to be very happy with the numbers in their initial rollout,” Greengart said. “It is at least meeting whatever their expectations were. On the other hand, they haven’t come out and told us how many subscribers they have for the service, which means they are not coming out and bragging about it.”

MediaFLO owns 700 MHz licenses that blanket most of the country. The low-frequency, high-power spectrum can cover far greater distances than cellular technology allowing MediaFLO to transmit its digital video feeds much like a traditional broadcaster. The multicast forward link only (FLO) technology is currently deployed only as V Cast Mobile TV over Verizon Wireless handsets, but a launch with AT&T is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year.

Using one of the four handsets, consumers can access live shows, clips and reruns from a multitude of traditional TV broadcasters ranging from the major networks to ESPN and Comedy Central.

The latest mobile TV-enabled LG Voyager has been slated by many to be an “iPhone killer.” It features a large external touch screen, as well as a Qwerty keypad underneath. In addition to mobile TV, it comes equipped with an HTML browser, access to VCast music and access to Verizon's VZ Navigator service for turn-by-turn directions.

Verizon also today unveiled three other new handsets it plans to have on the market for the holidays. The Samsung Juke is the company's entry-level music phone. The Venus by LG, similar in looks to the LG Chocolate, features buttons on the bottom half of the front panel, as well as a touch screen.

RIM also released the BlackBerry Pearl 8130, Verizon’s first smartphone to run on a CDMA network. The 3G network, which proved popular when deployed over AT&T and T-Mobile, has thus far not been available on Verizon or Sprint. The company expects the network to make Web surfing and emailing faster than it currently is on AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks.