iTV in the market of SetTopBox
The market of set top box today remind me of the market of the MP3 player back in 2001.
There is more and more set top box available. They allow people to browse the Internet (Web), to stream video, to access music, photo or video store on a USB mass storage device, to access to remote media center to browse their content... but most of them seem unfinish with a very poor software experience...
Navigation in the set top box menus is often painful.
Drive by the video on demand their usage is bound to explode in the coming years. In europe, a lot of Internet provider supply a set top box in their offer (the set top box could be rebranded or personalized in their offer).
What we saw in september with the iTV was way ahead of the competition in term of user interface.
With its Front Row user interface, it draws circle around any other set top box.
It also seems based on a MacOS X foundation. This could allow the iTV to incorporate other MacOS X technologies. In particular, two of them:
- WebKit (the engine of Safari): It could be a big complementary fonctionality of the iTV to allow its user to browse the Internet. With the new high res TV that are sold today, it can be really usable (a keyboard could be a big plus there).
- iChat Theater: The possibility to plug an iSight (or a LCD monitor with a integrated iSight) could be a huge seller. It will certainly need to open to video conferencing to PC user (iChat for Windows?).
A set top box is also a possibility for user with no computer to access the Internet or stay in touch with other.
The iTV has the potential to be what's the iPod was in 2001: the first usable product in a emerging and promising market.
Just my 2 cents.
There is more and more set top box available. They allow people to browse the Internet (Web), to stream video, to access music, photo or video store on a USB mass storage device, to access to remote media center to browse their content... but most of them seem unfinish with a very poor software experience...
Navigation in the set top box menus is often painful.
Drive by the video on demand their usage is bound to explode in the coming years. In europe, a lot of Internet provider supply a set top box in their offer (the set top box could be rebranded or personalized in their offer).
What we saw in september with the iTV was way ahead of the competition in term of user interface.
With its Front Row user interface, it draws circle around any other set top box.
It also seems based on a MacOS X foundation. This could allow the iTV to incorporate other MacOS X technologies. In particular, two of them:
- WebKit (the engine of Safari): It could be a big complementary fonctionality of the iTV to allow its user to browse the Internet. With the new high res TV that are sold today, it can be really usable (a keyboard could be a big plus there).
- iChat Theater: The possibility to plug an iSight (or a LCD monitor with a integrated iSight) could be a huge seller. It will certainly need to open to video conferencing to PC user (iChat for Windows?).
A set top box is also a possibility for user with no computer to access the Internet or stay in touch with other.
The iTV has the potential to be what's the iPod was in 2001: the first usable product in a emerging and promising market.
Just my 2 cents.