Adoption of Mobile TV Services Among Early Users: Convergence of Familiar Technologies and Emergence of Technology Induced Paradoxes

With the convergence of telecommunication infrastructures, computer technology, and media content services, mobile TV offerings have become feasible. Mobile TV offerings are defined as real-time broadcast transmissions of content to mobile devices. Research on early adopters suggests that 3Italia´s mobile tv offerings, the world´s first nationwide DVBH mobile TV offerings, are experiencing increasing use, user preferences for time sensitive content, and user satisfaction with content. Our analysis suggests that from a user perspective, mobile TV offerings represent a convergence of familiar technologies. The familiar nature of offerings may lead to emergence of fewer technology induced paradoxes than what has been found with other mobile services. We find that only two paradoxes appear relevant to mobile TV use: empowerment / enslavement and engagement /disengagement. Future research must wait for a richer set of paradoxes emerging from a stronger consideration of broadcast technology and services. This paper contributes to innovation research on mobile services.