April 6, 2007
This week’s Switched On, which should be posted later today, discusses HP’s discontinuation of its Digital Entertainment Center living room form factor PCs and Microsoft’s struggles to advance PC form factors. As far as I know, CEPro broke the story. Those who follow the convergence or PC retail space should read Julie Jacobson’s excellent series of articles about HP’s experience with the DEC in the custom installer channel. Part II looks at HP’s experience with the custom install channel earlier in the article, but the third part of the article, which I believe was posted today, delves deeper into why HP is leaning toward its MediaSmart TVs.
I akso had to chuckle as Julie found this way to sidestep an “off the record” comment:
Although HP spokesperson Pat Kinley did not want me to quote her as saying that the HP product and interface is simpler to use than the MCE solution, PC World did quote her: “We have other products on the market now and future products that I can’t talk about that perform essentially the same function in a way that’s easier for the consumer [to use].”
The article concludes with HP trying to position more as competition for AppleTV vs. Media Center Extenders, but you can’t compete with one without competing against the other, as Microsoft has been driving home with its comparisons between the Xbox 360 and AppleTV. In any case, building well-implemented DMR capabilities into the TV is a good differentiator for now, and most consumers would likely prefer no external box to even a small one like AppleTV, but with Pioneer, Sharp and surely others to follow, how long will it be before this falls too far below the consumer purchase criteria list to matter?
April 4, 2007
I spoke with a reporter yesterday about the changes we’ve seen in television over the past few years. I described it as fundamentally a destructon of the integrated programming supply chain. We’ve gone from three major broadcasat networks to scores of cable and satellite networks, video games, Internet content, networked PC content, even user interfaces for things like DVD players. I touched on the advent of “cellivision” offerings like MediaFLO, but didn’t focus too much on the transport.
But that may be opening up as well. At CES, Samsung announced work on A-VSB (Advanced Vestigal Side Band), a broadcast technology that will deliver over-the-air channels to mobile devices, but which isn’t a cellular offering like FLO or DVB-H. Now its homeland rival LG is set to match Samsung’s awkward acronym-forming prowess. LG will take the stage at NAB to debut MPHT (Mobile Pedestrian Handheld Technology), an in-band broadcasting technology with what sounds like a similar application.
Looks like there may be salvation for the handheld television market yet. Vive la Watchman!
In case you were wondering why there was no posting last week, I took a working vacation around CTIA Wireless 2007 in Orlando. I really like spring CTIA as far as large trade shows go. It’s big enough to command a position as an industry focal point while not being so big that taking it in within the alotted days becomes physically impossible without an elite team of ninja bloggers or at least a Segway. Unfortunately, I have neither.
This year I moderated a panel at the Smartphone Summit on smartphones and media with panelists from Nokia, Microsoft, WiderThan, Sling Media and MediaFLO. The panel consensus seemed to be that, while both smartphones and wireless media are gaining consumer momentum, they’re not moving toward each other, at least not yet. Why?
- the relative newfound popularity of smartphones, particularly the QWERTY Windows Mobile variety, which are starting to move well under the $100 price tag
- the fractured state of smartphone operating systems, which make native development less profitable
- the focus on the mass market by carrier initiatives such as VCast and easy to use quick access features such as the “TV” button used by MediaFLO-enabled handsets.
Why develop media optimized for smartphones? For traditional broadcast media, there isn’t much financial incentive, but there’s surely an opportunity for one of the Web 2.0 companies out there to bring some aspects of community and interactivity to a wireless media experience
Will the iPhone goose this market? Well, depending on how you define “smartphone” — and my personal view of the term is liberal — it’s the first high-end device to focus on a consumer media experience, However, much like the WinMo phones, the experience is still based on sideloading, which carriers are at best tolerating and which fail to capture the true flexibility that wireless is supposed to bring us.
Incidentally, this is the 150th post that I referenced in the Out of the Box birthday post.
April 3, 2007
Katie Fehrenbacher nicely packages an optimistic analysis of Helio’s forthcoming Ocean phone at GigaOm after linking to some doom and gloom regarding the MVNO’s prospects. While the AP story in particular details how Helio’s expensive growth is testing EarthLink investor patience, I can’t agree that the Ocean could be an “unlikely saviour.”
Devices aren’t and never have been king in the cellular business (Hear that, AT&T and Apple?). Devices have been closer to the heart of Helio than even other MVNOs, but they are still merely enablers, and it seems as though Helio has done quite well driving SMS volumes even without a QWERTY device. Its marketing formula is still probably only about 30 percent device, 70 percent image.
Helio has courted a high-end consumer but, as Katie notes, competition is stiff for the Ocean with the likes of the imminent iPhone and LG Prada, for which Engadget posted an enticing UI video walkthrough yesterday. As for Exchange integration, I suspect that many who have outgrown the Sidekick or grown weary of its incremental upgrades will take to one of the svelte trio of smartphones (the Q, BlackJack and Dash) running Windows Mobile, particularly as they are now starting to be heavily discounted and primed for Windows Mobile 6 upgrades. They still may not be as pretty on the inside as they are on the outside, but they’re gimmick-free and good enough to sustain inertia.
