“A survey of 22,000 European mobile users commissioned by Tellabs revealed that a high percentage of early adopters of mobile TV and video services are snubbing a second helping. The research, conducted by M:Metrics in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, brought up an interesting issue: on average, former users of mobile TV and video outnumber current users by more than 19%. Users cited price, quality and reliability issues as the main reasons why they do not come back for more.

Forty-five percent of European mobile video and TV users cited pricing issues as a factor causing them to switch off the services. And nearly a quarter (24%) of users who tried mobile video and TV stopped using the services due to concerns about service quality and reliability.

The split between perception and reality was most pronounced in the United Kingdom. Only 6% of those who had never used mobile video and TV cited quality and reliability as reasons not to try such services, but 29% of users had stopped using services because of quality and reliability.”

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The Register, which featured the news on its website, added:

“The study didn’t establish what technology was being used, so unfortunately there’s no opportunity to compare broadcast with narrowcast solutions. But overall it seems that users aren’t enjoying the experience of video on the move and, once they’ve shown it off to their mates, seem to have little time for it.

This does not bode well for the industry, which is betting a great deal on consumers wanting video on the go and being prepared to pay for it.”