The Mobile TV Zone at this autumn’s IBC2007 exhibition in Amsterdam, is being increased in size by 75% to more than 2,500m². The show is the world’s leading broadcasting exhibition.

The decision to devote more space to Mobile TV follows the success of last year’s show and the expansion of the Mobile TV market which is expected to soar from 6 million subscribers in 2007 to over 130 million subscribers in 2010.

The IBC2007 Mobile Zone will showcase the work of applications developers, content providers and technology companies. It will feature the latest developments in mobile TV, 3G services and mobile devices.

The impact of mobile devices on the creation, management and delivery of content will be a major theme of the show.

Visitors to the show will be able to attend free business briefings examining some of the issues and opportunities arising from the expansion of Mobile TV.

The IBC2007 Mobile Zone is being jointly developed and marketed by IBC, IT Europa and BPL. The IBC2007 exhibition will take place from 7th - 11th September 2007 at the RAI, Amsterdam.

Silicon.com, the technology news site, asked its readers if they thought Apple or Microsoft was the most likely to win the battle for the home entertainment market.

Apple came out first with 54% of the vote, while Microsoft came a close second with 46% of the vote.

Microsoft launched a home server at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Developed in collaboration with HP, the MediaSmart Server running new Windows Home Server software will be available in the second half of 2007.

It will be able to back up photographs, music, videos and documents automatically and can be accessed via a remote handset. The server will store terabytes of data.

Apple recognised the opportunity in the expanding home digital market in 2005 and launched its iMac G5 home entertainment hub. The G5 can be used to back up and access music, DVD movies, photos and television programmes via a remote hand control.

Apple in now preparing to launch the ‘iTV’ which will allow users to stream music or movies from a PC direct to a television.

Although the poll makes for interesting reading, ultimately it can only show what the audience bias for the poll actually is.

However, the battle for home entertainment is real, and Apple have made it clear they intend to prove strong competition.

The first HD DVD player has arrived in the UK.

It sets the the stage for a direct battle for the heart of the next generation DVD format.

At present, two rival technologies - HD DVD and Blu-ray - are looking to succeed the humble DVD, both of which offer significantly improved storage capabilities.

However, without a clear market leader, many commentators see a direct parallel between the VHS vs betamax video formats in 1980’s.

The first shot has already been fired in the UK - Toshiba’s HD-E1 is priced at just under £500, while the first Blu-ray player, Samsung’s DMPBDP1000, retails for more than twice as much.

The lower price will certainly work to carry consumer interest - but the biggest obstacle at present is that you need a HDTV to actually appreciate the difference in picture quality.

As has already been observed at HDTV News, HD TV sets just aren’t selling at present. Additionally, broadcasters are ramping up costs to help pay for the HD DVD broadcasts.

Even worse, though HD DVD will support existing DVD recordings, there are very few high definition titles currently available for purchase on DVD.

The sum of which is - there is precious little reason for HDTV, let alone HDTV players - to go mainstream at present.

However, the big gun has yet to fire.

Sony - which supports Blu-ray technology - has already installed it in it’s Playstation 3 console. Billed as a “home entertainment center”, it’s likely to be the biggest lever for getting next generation DVD technology into people’s homes.

The big question is whether a games console is really going to be enough to sell DVD technology for film and TV media.