Electronics Weekly has a good article on the technical challenges which still face proponents of mobile TV—notwithstanding the challenges in marketing and business models. The technical challenges boil down to getting the performance required to give a good experience on a mobile device and dealing with all the different standards around the world. There is an argument that decent handsets are vital to the success of mobile TV—BT (NYSE: BT) Movio’s closure of its DAB service is linked to only offering one handset, the innovative Lobster. Innovation does not always produce success.

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Over in the Philippines Smart Communications and Globe Telecom have admited their 3G networks haven’t seen the uptake they hoped for, and put the blame on handsets, or specifically the high price of them. “Globe says that of the 250,000 3G phones on its network, only 50,000 to 60,000 actually use the service. Smart meanwhile, says that it has around 500,000 3G-enabled phones on its network with only 200,000 counted as actual users” reports TeleGeography. The headline claims the the telcos are focusing on mobile TV after the failure of 3G, but that’s not backed up (or even mentioned) in the story. Which makes sense—if the problem is handsets, it’s no good betting on a technology with even newer and more expensive handsets to bail you out.