SlingPlayer allows users to access video stored elsewhere on cellphones, Blackberry devices or any device running Windows Mobile. Products from Dell, HP, Palm, Samsung and Acer currently have Windows Mobile built in, so the potential market is broad.
Mobile users need to have a Slingbox remote-access device wired up to their home electronics such as DVRs and home computers. SlingPlayer then allows them to tap into any stored content.
There isn’t much apparent benefit to content providers in terms of ancillary sales, since users are only accessing video they already own. Mobile carriers, on the other hand, would presumably see a significant rise in usage minute if the technology catches on with consumers.
And analysts say it's only a matter of time before consumers adopt wireless video.
“The most successful companies are the ones that realize that the lines between broadband and mobile will blur and be gone in a matter of years,” Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman said. “It will become irrelevant what type of device games, music and movies are played on.”
