The demise of BT Movio's DAB-IP based mobile TV service can be put down to the unattractive handset and the restriction of transmissions on the DAB digital radio multiplex, according to Mirics Semiconductor.
"They were trying to push water up the hill," said Ralph Weir, v-p sales and marketing, Mirics. "There's actually nothing wrong with DAB-IP, but they were restricted to only 30 per cent of a DAB multiplex. But the real problem is down to the handset - the Lobster is very uncool."
Weir said it is certainly not the end for mobile TV with adoption in both Japan and Korea on the increase.
"In Japan and Korea it's going great guns. In Japan, they sold two million phones for mobile TV in March, and in Korea it's similar levels," said Weir.
Weir believes the experience of these countries in designing mobile TV phones will benefit Europe.
"They understand how to build these handsets and make them sexy and attractive and that will pass back," said Weir. "There's a lot of lessons learnt in the Far East that should bring DVB-H up quicker."
The Fleet-based firm recently closed a $12m funding round which it will use to expand its engineering team and address a larger customer base for its mobile broadcast receiver technology.
The firm is rapidly expanding but recruiting engineers has not presented a problem.
"At the moment we're seen as a bit of a ‘darling of the industry' because we've done something quite different and cracked a lot of the technology problems in the architecture of the devices, which are seen as Holy Grail challenges," said Weir. "At the moment it's being seen as a very positive career move for people."