Out of the Box

Jeremy Toeman and Dave Zatz weighed in yesterday on the Netflix announcement that it will be partnering with LG on what it hopes will be the first of “100 Netflix-capable boxes” (putting its aspirational numbers significantly behind the thousand gPhones that Eric Schmidt is pursuing).

Jeremy notes the challenges of bringing a “fifth box” into the living room. It’s true that the standalone home network/broadband content access device has struggled for a number of reasons that I’ve explored in depth elsewhere. The alternative is easier said than done, though. Jeremy writes:

The “smart” marketing of the (rumored) $799 HD/Blu-Ray player will simply label it as having Netflix “built in” or something like that.

Right idea, wrong Trojan horse. The problem is that no amount of smart marketing will dramatically expand the market for a $799 dual-format high-def disc player, which is being hampered by nearly as many problems as Internet set-top boxes. There are standard-definition DVD players, of course, but that market has been completely commoditized.

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Fall CTIA is the less device-centric of the two annual wireless shows. Some attribute that to it being bumped up close to CES, but I think it has more to do with the spring CTIA show coming on the heels of the even larger European 3GSM show, a handset announcement bonanza. So, there wasn’t that much really new on the device side of the show, but it did provide an opportunity to get hands-on with some recently announced products, particularly from Samsung and LG.

I liked Samsung’s Juke (differentiated form factor and inexpensive) and the BlackJack 2 is a strong contender to the Motorola Q9. I was less drawn to the somewhat chunky and industrially styled i760 side-slider, but a colleague has ordered one and is satisfied so far.

The LG Voyager really brings the ball forward from the company’s successful enV. It is by no means an iPhone-killer as it has been portrayed. In fact, it’s not even a smartphone at all. But it should be. It’s not so much that the Windows Mobile UI would dramatically improve the overall user experience, but getting a few decent communications (IM, Web) and media applications on the Voyager would make it a formidable Sidekick competitor.

LG is the only top-five cell phone company that doesn’t offer a smartphone. It would be interesting if they offered Symbian’s OS (they are a licensee) as it would be nice to have more options for that operating system in the U.S. market, particularly on the CDMA side.

As for the Sidekick, I had been more interested in the Slide than the LX (which I’ve dubbed the “Widekick”), but, having now seen them both, the LX is not appreciably thicker than the Slide. The Sidekick would definitely benefit from a touchscreen, if only to address its longstanding need to reveal the keyboard in order to dial a number.

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