SPB Software, a mobile software developer, has updated the Windows Mobile version of its application SPB TV to version 2.0. Due to advertising revenues support the program is now free-of-charge and subscription-free. Ads featured in SPB TV only last as long as channel buffering takes and therefore preserve the best user experience, says SPB.
In addition to the existing features that include quick channel previews, a TV guide for more than 150 offered channels in more than 20 languages, picture-in-picture mode, fast channel launching and switching, the new version offers also a video on demand (VOD) option. With this new feature the users can control what they are watching and when.
Another significant enhancement, says SPB, is the Advanced Video Codec (H.264) support which improves video quality. As a result even with substantial lower bitrates the resolution is strongly improved, it's claimed. SPB TV 2.0 also allows to watch TV with low speed mobile network connections.
SPB TV works on iPhone, Symbian, Android, BlackBerry and WebOS smartphones as well. Last month SPB TV has reached one million users milestone and, according to SPB, mobile TV watching behaviour is different in different countries. For example 71% of US users use SPB TV via 3G while in Greece and Poland only 10% of users use 3G and others use WiFi.
"Taken into consideration all the statistics and feedback collected from our users, we created the new version of SPB TV, which can not only offer our users better video quality but can be also available to all Windows Mobile users absolutely for free", said Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, CEO of SPB Software.
SPB TV is also available as a solution for mobile operators. SPB TV Mobile Operators Solution allows carriers to couple SPB's solution with their own infrastructure and various subscription models. Three mobile operators world-wide are said to have already deployed SPB TV based mobile TV solutions.