Teletext has launched the first instant messaging service to run over an iTV channel. The service, developed by Mobillion, is called mtxc Chat and will be launched in association with Vodafone. Users will send SMS messages to a TV platform to be viewed in real time and exploits the popularity of both interactive TV and text messaging.
The
Yankee Group 2000 Survey anticipated that messaging via iTV would be a popular application and would increase interactivity driving online commerce possibilities. The trial of a similar service in Spain in 2000 carried 15,000 messages per day at its peak.
