We always worried that Apple would not want its iPhone to be used for mobile TV, because it wants customers to BUY video content, including TV programming, rather than have it sent to the device free to air.
But in Japan, the rules of engagement are slightly different, and it sounds as if Softbank has convinced Apple to allow a 1 Seg mobile TV receiver to be built for the device, with a software application to be distributed for free through the Apple App Store to work with it.
Otherwise Apple would have been at a huge disadvantage, and even so it remains at a slight disadvantage, because it will not have native on-board 1 Seg, but a plug in device with an ISDB-T chip in it, rather like the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS, both of which have similar plug ins, with both a tuner and an aerial. The device takes in ISDB-T and either plugs into the iPhone or puts out a Wi-Fi signal which the iPhone can pick up.
The tiny 80 gram device should hit Japanese streets in mid-December, and should accelerate iPhone sales there for Softbank, and go for around $100 (the PSP and DS versions are much cheaper). We haven’t been able to track down who’s chip is in it as yet, but one source suggests it is a first ISDB-T win for the multi-protocol Siano chip, the SMS1100 launched in January for both the Japanese and Brazilian markets.
The device will have its own battery which will also share power with the iPhone and act as a battery top-up if the two are actually plugged into one another. The big question is that if this triggers accelerated sales of the iPhone in Japan, will Apple begin to take an interest in DVB-H, MediaFLO and ATSC-M/H extensions, which it can accommodate in this way with an accessory rather than messing about with the internals of the iPhone itself. The device is also reported as being able to send the video over Wi-Fi and just needs the download of a piece of software to schedule the frames.
Softbank says it will have 3 hours continuous 1-Seg viewing, and take 2 to 4 hours to recharge.
The deal comes just as Softbank has announced that iPhone owners can have free, unlimited access to it Wi-Fi hotspots.