Is BT too innovative?

Total Telecom has reported that BT is discontinuing its BT Movio mobile TV service, a move that forces Virgin Mobile to stop selling the product. It appears the uptake was modest at best with analysts estimating that the service had 10,000 users only since its launch in September 2006.

BT Movio is based on DAB-IP technology. This enabled BT to get to market early but it had limited spectrum which meant few channels and limited resolution per channel, a point made by proponents of other mobile broadcast technologies such as DVB-H.

BT was also an early proponent of fixed mobile convergence with its UMA-based BT Fusion service. At the time of its launch BT's handsets used Bluetooth for the wireless connection when within the home zone, now of course Wi-Fi is standard. The BT Fusion service continues but has not had the rapid uptake of Orange's Unik service for example.

Meanwhile BT continues to innovate. It is moving to an all-IP network with its 21CN initiative and it is embracing Web 2.0 through initiatives such as its Web21C which makes available a service development kit for third party application developers to tap into BT's network and use such service functions as messaging and presence. BT is also a proponent of IMS.

But based on BT's experience with Movio, is BT too innovative for its own good? Total Telecom's view is no. BT's pursuit of IMS built on an all-IP network coupled with a service delivery platform that embraces Web 2.0 means that it will only be a matter of time before it alights on services that do take off.

But it will be interesting to see what the service successes are and, more importantly for BT's innovators, how long it takes the operator to demonstrate the benefits of being an early mover.