Cell phone users not thrilled by video option

Watching television over a cell phone makes for a good technology demo, but that doesn't mean it's something customers want, according to a new survey of wireless users by In-Stat.

Only 12% of the survey group was interested in buying a phone capable of viewing television, while 42% were highly interested in voice activation for text input and 40% wanted Wi-Fi data capabilities on their cell phones, said Neil Strother, In-Stat analyst.

The wireless user group In-Stat uses to do its ongoing report, "Future Cell Phones: The Big Trends, 2005-2010," is "a group of tech-savvy early adopters," said Strother, so this relatively low level of interest is an indication that "they still have to be convinced" that video on a cell phone is something they'd want.

About 21% of those surveyed were interested in using a direct connection between their cell phones and their bank accounts to make purchases--essentially using a cell phone as a wallet, Strother said.

Those attitudes will shift with time, he added, as new services become commercial. Only in Korea and Japan are such services available now, he said.

"This is a directional survey--we have done surveys with this group for a very long time and we're confident that it's an early warning system," he commented. "It shows that cellular companies who want to sell these services still have a lot of work to do."