Filomena Vellekoop

HBO needed someone to monitor the product quality of the video content delivery to mobile phones from its corporate offices in New York. A Webster student at the Leiden campus in the Netherlands was hired to perform this research for the local Dutch market.

The student intern, Filomena Vellekoop, monitored the mobile video channels in the Netherlands to assure the quality and presentation. She also identified problems and worked with the HBO team in New York to fine-tune the product presentation. Research was conducted on the content quality, user interface, navigation, and delivery schedules of mobile video channels available in the Netherlands.

Vellekoop also monitored the mobile video programs daily and reported her findings to the HBO Advanced Technology and Programming departments.

During Vellekoop's research, she:

• monitored whether the content in the HBO Mobile channel was delivered according to the time-of-day program schedule.
• provided feedback on the audio and video presentation as delivered from the HBO partner provider Vodafone.
• compared the HBO Mobile audio/video quality to the audio/video quality of other Vodafone channels.
• provided mapping and review of the user interface/navigation for the Vodafone video offering, including HBO Mobile.
• identified problems with the user interface and navigation.
• reported on other competitive products in the marketplace, such as portable video (e.g., personal media players, other hand-held portable video devices).

Vellekoop spent the summer on the Vodafone monitoring project participating in weekly conference calls to discuss the project and the research results.

There were several problems that were identified and corrected. They included:

• At the project onset, it was discovered that the timing was out of sync and delivered 2-3 minutes late.
• Scheduled commercials were either skipped or wrong.
• In the evenings, one scheduled show was not being shown on the mobile.
• Commercials were not entirely aired.

"It was an experience of a lifetime. It was definitely an opportunity I will never forget," said Vellekoop. "Before, mobiles were only used for calling...it's amazing how far technology has come. Who knew it would be possible to watch your favorite TV shows on your mobile! A tiny gadget...yet so many possibilities. What's next? Will we all just be on our couches controlling everything with our mobiles?"

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