Apr 08, 2009 09:02 ET
Mo-DV Earns Patent for Technology That Paves the Way for Multimedia Files to Be Played on a Wide Range of Mobile Devices
Flash-Oriented Solution Provides a New Distribution Channel for
Content Providers Seeking to Reach Mobile Consumers Through Video
CAMPBELL, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Apr 08, 2009
Mo-DV
(Mobile Digital Video), a premier technology provider to play and secure
video and audio content for mobile devices and PCs, has been awarded a
patent for software technology that will revolutionize the way media
distributors, retailers, kiosk manufacturers, memory card manufacturers,
and even movie studios distribute video and other multimedia content to
consumers. The patent paves the way for millions of consumers to have
access to Mo-DV’s innovative technology, which allows media files to be
played on most cell phones and computers.
The patent was awarded on the heels of Mo-DV’s first shipping products:
USB flash drives with bundled feature-length movies from a major motion
picture studio. These products are shipping in the US, Spain, Germany,
and Belgium under multiple brands. The technology for which the patent
was awarded will allow for high-quality video, movie and media file
playback across different computers and mobile devices that support
removable storage media (USB flash drive, memory card, hard disk drive).
With this patented technology, consumers can purchase or rent movies and
videos and play them on any cell phone or portable computer device they
choose, much like a DVD can be played on any DVD player. The Mo-DV
player works across 80 percent of smart phones and on many feature
phones. Mo-DV’s technology also can be used to make USB flash drives
playback movies and other media content on any PC.
The cell phone market is widely fragmented making it almost impossible
for large video distributors to deliver video to cell phones. iPhone
customers have video available to them via iTunes, but are trapped in a
“walled garden,” forced to obtain their video from one place only.
Furthermore, Digital Rights Management (DRM), which refers to access
control technologies used by publishers, copyright holders, and hardware
manufacturers, creates an undue barrier of use for the consumer by tying
the DRM to one particular playback device like a cell phone or PC,
making it impossible for digital content purchased for playback on one
device to play on a different device. Mo-DV’s solution simplifies the
landscape by providing a universal video player that works across the
widest range of computers and cell phones from many manufacturers. The
new patent covers solutions that separate the DRM from the computer or
cell phone used for playback, tying it instead to the video and software
player and storage card.
“Trying to obtain video on cell phones has been a messy process for
consumers,” said Jessica H. Fullmer, Founder and CEO. “Consumers simply
have not had access to the mobile video they want. Video suppliers and
distributors can’t make it available because it must be encoded in
multiple formats to play across mobile handsets—which is costly—and even
if done it will only play on a small subset of handsets in the market.
Mo-DV has changed all this, creating a universal player that provides a
seamless cross-platform solution.”
The applications of the new technology have widespread implications for
a wide range of companies involved in content creation and distribution,
including retailers, content distributors, service providers, kiosk
manufacturers, duplication houses and movie and television studios.
Mo-DV’s new technology taps into a growing trend—the emerging
video-enabled cell phone market. Mobile handsets are becoming
video-ready in unprecedented numbers. Of the 1.18 billion cell phones
shipped in 2008, roughly 15 percent were “smartphones” with sufficient
screen size, resolution and horsepower to play high quality video. By
2011, Gartner expects more than 65 percent of cell phones shipped will
be smartphones. In addition, storage, essential for large video files,
has reached critical mass. Strategy Analytics finds that the average
memory card size for phones is over 1GB, growing from 512MB in 2007 to
26GB in 2012. Further confirming the need for Mo-DV’s multimedia storage
solution is the fact that half of cell phones shipped today have memory
card slots, expected to more than double to over 1 billion in 2011.
“These statistics, combined with the fact that consumers demand for
video on cell phones is growing rapidly, indicate the need for our
product,” said Fullmer. “US consumers want video on ALL phones, not just
iPhones, and they want to be able to use that video on any of the
devices they own.”
To assist with the licensing of its software and intellectual property,
Mo-DV has been working with ipCapital Group, an intellectual property
consulting firm that has delivered more than 450 successful IP
engagements to companies in a wide range of industries.
For more information about Mo-DV, please call (408) 374-7235 or visit www.mo-dv.com.
About Mo-DV
Mo-DV (Mobile Digital Video) develops software solutions for
device-independent video playback. The Mo-DV content player is
inexpensive to implement, self-contained and platform independent with
cross-platform DRM for seamless content playback on most computers and
cell phones.
Mo-DV
Jessica Fullmer, 408-348-3201
Chairman and CEO
jfullmer@mo-dv.com