TiVo to Let Users Record Shows Via Cellphone 172
Carl Bialik writes "Verizon Wireless plans to offer a new service called TiVo Mobile that will allow its customers who also have TiVos in their homes to schedule TV shows for recording when they are on the go, the Wall Street Journal reports. ' A customer might use the service to impulsively schedule a sitcom for recording after the show is recommended by a friend at a party,' says the WSJ, adding, 'Verizon Wireless executives said the service, to begin this summer, is expected to cost less than $5 a month, in addition to normal cellphone-service charges and TiVo subscriber fees, which are $12.95 a month.'"
A bit obsessive (Score:4, Insightful)
Where's the advantage? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Where's the advantage? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because if you do it that way, Verizon doesn't get $5/month out of you! (Alternate: Because when you signed up for Verizon, they disabled the web-enabled part of your phone when they installed their ugly red user interface and branding onto it, but will re-enable it for $5/month.)
Oh, wait, you're looking at it from the customer's perspective. Never mind.
$60 a year? (Score:2, Insightful)
TiVo users are suckers (Score:1, Insightful)
Even better, just call someone... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why pay to have a cell phone do yet one more thing.
Later,
-Slashdot Junky
Mo Money! (Score:5, Insightful)
on top of your verizon plan, on top of the tivo monthly fee, on top of the broadband connection...
(this won't work if your tivo still works on dial-up)
Never mind (as 50 other posts mentioned) the free alternatives...
Just doesn't make financial sense.
Re:and orb (Score:5, Insightful)
WTFITBD?
The hell I'm going to pay for a specialized app on a phone that has internet access already.
Standards are there for a reason, if a phone can access normal web pages it can do hundreds of things, if it has a bunch of nickle and dime apps that raises your bill it's a POS and your provider is screwing you.
If your phone can only view "mobile pages" there are scripts that you can run on your own webserver that'll strip everything but the actual info and serve you that.
Re:Japan (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Where's the advantage? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A bit obsessive (Score:3, Insightful)
Some scenarios where this feature might come in handy:
1. You are out with friends and they mention a new show to you.
2. You are out and realize you forgot that your show is on a new night this week - and tonight is the night.
3. You are out and see an advertisement for a new show. You can write it down and hope you don't forget to enter it in later, or you can just enter it in right now.
4. You are out with friends and one of them realizes he forgot to record a show he wanted to watch. You can do him a favor.
Feel the Verizon love (Score:3, Insightful)
So it's no surprising at all that they want to charge for this service. As many people have noted it's easily done already. But Verizon can sell it as a 'select' service you can get, to lure you into getting a 10-year contract. They won't mention the cost, until it is too late. They might also leave off needing a TIVO subscription on top of that. Until you get your bill, and realize how stupid it is.
They do that with their web phones. On some phones (like mine) you can actually change the gateway such that you can surf the net for free, until you realize exactly how painful it is to do with a cell phone, and give up.
Re:TiVo users are suckers (Score:4, Insightful)
I pay 13$/month because I don't want to screw with my television (+DVR), I just want it to work. TiVo obviously provides me a service for this - the most obvious being the guide data. It is a small price to pay, imho, for the (nearly) worry-free joy that is my TiVo. If the series3 isn't vaporware, I'm all about it.
not the typical tivo use case (Score:3, Insightful)
i am a long time tivo user and advocate. the idea that someone would pay $5 / month for the ability to schedule shows from their verizon phone is absurd. i can say, since i've had access to the web-based equivalent (free) service (about 1.5 years), i've used it probably twice, and once was just to see how it works. it's just not the typical tivo use case.
this is like every other service offered on cell phones. cell phone companies are trying to build a proprietary internet for cell phones only and nickel and dime us to death with fees. you pay for bandwidth, and you pay again for the content! well, it's not working. proof is the state of the celluar web today. nothing but toy content that you try once and then can't believe you actually paid for it.
Re:not the typical tivo use case (Score:3, Insightful)
this is like every other service offered on cell phones. cell phone companies are trying to build a proprietary internet for cell phones only and nickel and dime us to death with fees
Which is what makes me nervous about the ATT/Bellsouth deal. My experience with Internet access on my phone reflects your statement. A few sites allow free access, but the mobile provider has set up toll gates everywhere in an attempt to get more $$$ from the customers. What really drives me nuts is my the inability of the handset to upload ringers via USB. Have to have network access to do that. I can up and download music/data files via USB with no problem, but not a ringer. I have zero interest in buying theirs, since I make my own.
One can only imagine what a POS a PC would be if the phone/cable companies could actually control it. Of course the Internet probably wouldn't exist either at that point.
Don't need a Tivo for that (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Where's the advantage? (Score:3, Insightful)
This is one of the fundamental reasons why you are sometimes better off with public infrastructure. Instead of five networks covering the dense areas and barely one covering less dense areas you just pay once for building the entire network and then let the service providers battle it out on services.
Having the service providers own the infrastructure is like having oil companies provide the roads and cars. Imagine having five roads to your house in the 'burbs, where you're only allowed to use one, depending on your brand of gas, then try to drive to your cabin in the woods, only to have no road at all there.
And to think how close we were to not getting the internet, but rather ending up with a few large everything-in-one providers...
Your model is busted (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Where's the advantage? (Score:2, Insightful)
Exactly. Yet another example of the kind of "innovation" that gave us NTP vs RIM.
Email, IM, PC, phone, TV, tivo, mp3, web, P2P - Pick two buzzwords, write a press release.
The real question is: why do journalists (and bloggers) propagate this clueless marketing, instead of debunking it ?
AC