• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, June 26, 2007

Mobile TV is gaining ground with consumers, but likely not as fast as media companies would prefer.

A new study by mobile research firm Telephia, released two days before the debut of the Apple iPhone, reveals that 8.4 million people in the United States subscribed to mobile video services during the first quarter. While that figure marks a 155% increase from last year's 3.3 million, it represents just 3.6% of all mobile subscribers.

Mobile video revenue also ballooned to $146 million -- a threefold increase from last year, but still lagging behind the $239 million revenue in mobile audio, including ringtones.

Apple's new iPhone, set for release on Friday, might lead consumers beyond just the typical early adopters to embrace mobile video. Certainly many observers are watching and waiting to see if that happens.

On one hand, Apple has a track record of creating products that people want. But at the same time, watching mobile video is a far more expensive proposition than, say, listening to music on an iPod. For consumers who already own CDs, the cost of using an iPod is just the price of the machine. But with mobile TV, people must shell out not just the cost of the gadget (the iPhone starts at $499), but then also pay monthly service fees (AT&T said today pricing plans will start at $60 for 450 minutes of talk time) as well as any download fees (iTunes sells TV shows for around $2 per episode).

Additionally, mobile phones' short battery life makes them less than ideal devices for watching video. YouTube is working to reformat its videos -- which at a maximum of 10 minutes are far shorter than TV shows or movies -- so they eat up less of a battery charge. But whether that's enough to overcome the practical difficulties of mobile video remains to be seen.