HTTP Streaming or iPhone Best Practices

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ExEcutivE Summary 1Sep 1: P  me ce Se

Step 2: Deciding on a Business Model 1Step 3: Deciding on a Delivery Model 2

vidEo StrEaming For thE iPhonE

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3use Epeee 3iPhonE oS vErSion 3 — nEw StrEaming caPabilitiES

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i

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Video Encoding and Bit Rates

5 Stream Segmenter

5Content Origin

6Ingest to NetStorage

6Storage Considerations

6Client Playback

6HTML 5 Video Support 6Detecting iPhone OS Version 7 User Agent for iPhone OS Version 3.0 7

Table o Contents

httP Se f Pe bes Pes

Executive Summary

The consumption o mobile content around the globe is growing rapidly, thanks tothe introduction o more open, Internet based smartphones like the iPhone. Thesedevices expand the opportunity or content publishers to leverage the public internet(rather than closed-walled garden approach o carriers) to extend audience reach tonew platorms.Video capabilities on mobile handsets have increased signicantly. According to a re-cent study, 75% o worldwide data-capable handsets are able to download video clips,and almost 50% support streaming video. Apple’s iPhone represents a large and grow-ing share o this market when measured by number o handhelds. But iPhone users aremuch more active on the network than others, generating a disproportionate amounto mobile web and application trac.In addition to screen size and ease-o-use, Apple’s integral support o WiFi appearsto be a big contributor to increased mobile internet usage. Apple products representalmost 80% o worldwide WiFi requests by handhelds, 50% rom iPhones and another30% rom the iTouch.The opportunity or mobile digital media and applications is growing as manuacturersadd WiFi unctionality to this leading edge o smartphones. With iPhones out in ront,now is the time or your business to explore and plan a mobile content strategy.Since the iPhone oers the optimal user video experience at this time, this guide willocus primarily on delivering content to iPhone users. However we will discuss othermobile devices in passing.

Step 1: Planning a Mobile Content Strategy

The iPhone has demonstrated that consumers are willing and able to download andview a wide variety o content and applications on their handsets. Windows o oppor-tunity range rom two to three minute breaks while waiting or something or someone,to an hour or more while commuting or other travel. Prior to the iPhone access to mo-bile content was primarily available through ‘on-deck’ services oered by the carriers.Carriers would determine which brands and content services are available to consum-ers rom their mobile internet home pages. However, there is now a growing shit to‘o-deck’ or ‘direct-to-consumer’ content through brand owned sites and applications.This has enabled new business models, revenue streams and delivery options or both‘on-deck’ and ‘o-deck’ content.

Step 2: Deciding on a Business Model

There are three primary business models in today’s mobile content market, those being;1Free content: i the content provides direct support or a product or service, thenyou might distribute it or ree.2Paid or content: another model is to charge a ee directly to the customer or thecontent or the application. Variations on this include subscriptions, rental chargesor viewing or a limited time, or an outright purchase.3Advertising supported content: supporting content distribution with advertising isa requently considered business model. Advertising options include banner ads,‘pre-roll’ o ads beore the main video or more complex integration such as graphicsoverlays on the video content.Choosing the appropriate business model or your content is the rst step.