Nearly one-third of US households have video-capable mobile phones. Apple's Iphone may be the hot mobile phone, but video downloads are not a hot option. Parks Associates’ latest research claims that most people who have video-capable mobile phones have never used the video feature.

For example, 56% of owners have never watched a video clip using a mobile phone. Interestingly, almost 40% have never played a song on their mobile phone and close to 60% said they've never browsed the Internet on their mobile.

John Barrett, Director of Research at Parks Associates, argues that mobile video is largely the victim of a chicken-and-egg dilemma: consumers are reluctant to pay for a new, unfamiliar service. For phone carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Telstra, Optus, and Vodaphone, this is not good news. These low usage rates are discouraging for any operator hoping to boost revenues through new TV and video services.

Mr. Barrett said most subscribers must pay additional money to watch video and mobile TV services, even once they have purchased an appropriate phone. Thus, the “buy anything before you try it” approach is always a tough sell.

Depending on the context, whether it is a quick YouTube video versus a full-length movie, there will be differences in the user expectations for portable video in terms of type of content, viewing session length, or device/screen size.

Video is seen as a nice-to-have function on music players, but is it used much? In the past, surveys have shown that video is not much used on Apple's Ipods, so listening to digital music remains the dominant application and the main motivation for purchase of one. According to the survey, only one percent of the content played on Ipods is video. On high-end video Ipods, the proportion of video grows to 2.2 percent of the content played.

Mobile TV services have taken off in Japan and South Korea, where service is offered free of charge. In Italy, where additional fees have been the norm, usage has been limited. Thus, it is in everyone's interest to offer some free programming to jump start users with video-capable mobile phones.

Possibly a 90-day free trial would get more users of video-capable mobile phones to keep paying for the service after the trail period is over.   X