As an avid NBA fan, the concept sounds cool - very cool in fact, given that most live NBA games take place during the morning in China. Live streaming games through the mobile phone would allow NBA junkies all over China to sneak in a few minutes of game action during a work break, bathroom break, or lunch break as needed.
Unfortunately, this partnership seems premature on the part of the NBA and of Kongzhong. Currently, mobile data networks in China (GPRS for China Mobile and CDMA1x for China Unicom) remains too slow for high quality live streaming video; video-centric phones (with bigger and better screens) are not widely used or available; the mobile operator’s data plans (unlimited bandwidth would be best for streaming multimedia services) are not designed for high-bandwidth services such as streaming video. Realistically, we will have to wait until 3G networks are launched for streaming multi-media services to become widely available in China; in the meantime, NBA fans like me will have to get our kicks from less data heavy features such as news, scores, wallpaper downloads, and updating my fantasy team.
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