Modeo
Foreseer

This "Mobile TV" smartphone was unveiled by mobile TV company Modeo at the CTIA Wireless Show in Las Vegas in 2006. Modeo was a subsidiary of the mobile phone mast company Crown Castle International. The handset used the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld) technology standard, the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system and the Microsoft Windows Media platform. It was designed to provide "a feature-packed mobile entertainment and productivity solution." It was made by HTC and offered a "one-touch connection to live digital TV and music services" as well as other functions such as email, calendar and contact management. The Windows Mobile 5.0 platform offered a variety of Windows applications including mobile versions of Microsoft Office programs such as Internet Explorer Mobile and Outlook Mobile.  The handset also featured a built-in electronic service guide (ESG) in an effort to reflect the interface on an "in-home" TV. Modeo originally pilot tested its DVB-H mobile broadcast network in Pittsburgh (where Crown Castle's international headquarters was based) in 2005 offering content from six cable channels -- CNBC, Discovery Channel, E! Entertainment Television, Fox News Channel, Fox Sports and MSNBC. It planned to launch services across the US in 2006 and did deploy around 100 sites in New York City, but the venture was abandoned in July 2007. Its demise was attributed to the success of rival mobile TV service, MediaFLO, which was offered by Qualcomm and used by both the AT&T and Verizon networks in the US. However, this service also failed and was abandoned in October 2010. The story behind Crown Castle's decision to get into Mobile TV is also worth noting. In early-2003, Crown Castle International spotted that some US-wide L-band spectrum (1670-1675MHz) was being auctioned.  At the time, it didn’t know what it might do with it but recognised the value of this spectrum and bought it at the reserve price.  The licence was granted in October 2003.  Having assessed the various options it ended up using it for Mobile TV.  In order to bring this vision to fruition the Crown Castle team had to work extremely hard with standards bodies to have the ETSI Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld standard (DVB-H) modified so it would support 5MHz channel operation. With thanks to Russell Inman for his help on the history of Modeo.