The evolution of Australian mobile screens: New technology, new formats, new business models

Mobile media is an important facet of the new domestic, globalized and transnational spaces in which Australasian film and television now shape, circulate and are consumed. Mobile phones have been described as especially intimate, personal, and portable media devices, and also talked about as the ‘fourth screen’ (after cinema, television and computer screens). As mobile phones have evolved into fully-fledged mobile media, their characteristics and possibilities for audio-visual material and screen cultures, as well as their business models, have become much more complex. This article discusses the evolution of mobile screens in Australia, discusses key features of these powerfully small screens and offers critical discussion of the new kinds of formats and productions circulated and consumed through these technologies.