Right now you have IPTVs selling that almost no one is using.... he points out why they are not using, or not buying below.
JZ
About 3 hours ago 7
Why Connected TVs Will Be About the Content, Not the Apps
Jeremy Toeman has worked in the field of convergence between computers, the Internet and TV for over 10 years. He is a founding partner of Stage Two, a consumer technology product experience firm in San Francisco, and can be found blogging at livedigitally.com.With the recent launches of the revamped Roku and the new Apple TV, Samsung’s connected TVs in stores already, and Google TV and the Boxee Box looming large on the horizon, the connected device space is officially heating up. New Internet TV devices, be they connected TVs, smart set top boxes, digital media streamers, or whatever else, are offering consumers virtually limitless access to content by bringing the best — and of course the worst — the Internet() has to offer straight into the living room.
But beyond just “get more content on your TV,” we’re starting to see a lot of energy focused on “apps on your TV.” Right now, wired TVs and Wi-Fi enabled Blu()-ray players come equipped with everything from YouTube() (cool) to TED Talks (awesome) to Pandora() (sweet) to Twitter() (huh?).
When it comes to video and music apps (entertainment), the value proposition is clear: more content on my TV. But what’s the value of non-entertainment apps? And how can the device makers communicate that value?
Disclosure: The author has worked and/or consulted for many companies in this space, including those mentioned here and their direct competitors. A complete client list is available here.
Take a look at this photo I took at Costco recently. This is how Samsung is selling the Smart TV experience to consumers.
The four apps featured on the box are Twitter, Facebook(), Dailymotion and AccuWeather.com. In order, most mainstream Costco shoppers will see this as: a stream of hashtag-infused sound bites, farm updates from their high school friends, an unfamiliar video site and a weather app that replicates what they already get on the Weather Channel, their smartphones and laptops. This is supposed to make someone want to buy a premium, top-of-the-line TV?
The point of this is not to pick on Samsung; almost every player in the connected TV space is erroneously highlighting apps when they should be highlighting content. Other than Dailymotion, which is at least a video content offering (albeit far from mainstream), what can the others offer? It’s not being communicated in this ad.
The current industry vision for Twitter on your TV is essentially a direct port of a Twitter client into your living room that adds almost no content to the experience. In this scenario, your television faithfully recreates the Twitter experience for wired couch potatoes. Never mind that people already have Twitter on their phone, iPad, laptop, and already do tweet from the couch. Never mind that tweeting from your TV would likely require a full keyboard –- or worse, some sort of onscreen keypad. Never mind that browsing links to websites optimized for computer and mobile screens is never fun on a television. Replicating Twitter as-is on a connected TV it is not a win for anyone. And yet, this is what all the manufacturers are doing.
Twitter can work on the TV, though, if you think about the content that a Twitter feed inherently presents.
Imagine a TV Twitter “client” that is focused on a visual content delivery experience. Rather than reading or replying to tweets, a content-focused approach to Twitter on your TV would pull out the rich media that people are sharing. What if you could, for example, subscribe to the TED Twitter feed and watch all the videos that it shares automatically on your television? What if the TV Twitter client automatically pulled out the YouTube videos your friends shared on Twitter or the Twitpic() images and automatically put them in an easily browsable gallery? What if it didn’t feel like Twitter at all?
Living room users don’t care about trivial updates and hashtags. They care about media and entertainment (or infotainment). For TV apps to succeed, they need to provide engaging content to the audience. For connected TV apps to resonate with casual users and gain wide adoption, they must recognize that it’s all about content in the end. This, of course, requires more imagination, more innovation and a bit more work. But it can be done, and the future of connected device apps depends on developers enthusiastically marching down this path.
Why am I convinced that content is king for the digital home? Because consumers have traditionally paid a premium for more access to media in their living rooms. As TV evolved from three to 500 channels, and later introduced VCRs, DVD players and DVR, it was the access to content, and not the technology itself, that fueled mass adoption. When content providers offer more choices, users are willing to pay more for increased access to new media.
Interactive TV has tried and failed for 20 years because it has always focused on features and functions instead of content. So how can connected devices and media companies push new, app-delivered content?
First, start foregrounding that content. In marketing, benefits beat features, which beat raw specs. By embracing the “Now With Apps!” marketing mantra, consumer electronic companies are highlighting features. They might as well be advertising the shipping weight of their devices or the HD processor inside. The function of smart devices in the digital living room is to entertain people.
Second, everyone from app developers to smart device manufacturers to marketing and ad executives must humanize this new technology. Tell a story. Engage people’s emotions. Draw users in by making technology personal. The average user doesn’t get excited that his or her TV has a Flickr() app. But most people would like to see photos of their friends and family on the TV. Average users can’t easily identify with a Pandora app, but the idea of your TV playing the kind of music you want to hear sounds appealing. There’s probably even a place for showing pictures of cats with funny captions — just don’t call it an app.
Saying the name of the TV app doesn’t sell it. Sure, if you are reading this blog, many of those apps make sense, but for shoppers at Costco, it looks like word salad. The future of the digital home is exciting, to be sure. In order to effectively launch a smart living room, the industry as a whole needs to focus on the experiences people can have with new technology and not rattle off a bullet list of apps.
Electronics companies and entrepreneurs must understand the psychology of the couch. It is the one location where people want to be entertained, often passively. They spend all day in front of phones, e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. When they kick back on the couch, the last thing they want to see is a list of unread e-mails and a loading screen.
That’s why a winning way to make and market connected TV in 2011 is delivering content, not apps.
But beyond just “get more content on your TV,” we’re starting to see a lot of energy focused on “apps on your TV.” Right now, wired TVs and Wi-Fi enabled Blu()-ray players come equipped with everything from YouTube() (cool) to TED Talks (awesome) to Pandora() (sweet) to Twitter() (huh?).
When it comes to video and music apps (entertainment), the value proposition is clear: more content on my TV. But what’s the value of non-entertainment apps? And how can the device makers communicate that value?
Disclosure: The author has worked and/or consulted for many companies in this space, including those mentioned here and their direct competitors. A complete client list is available here.
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Take a look at this photo I took at Costco recently. This is how Samsung is selling the Smart TV experience to consumers.
The four apps featured on the box are Twitter, Facebook(), Dailymotion and AccuWeather.com. In order, most mainstream Costco shoppers will see this as: a stream of hashtag-infused sound bites, farm updates from their high school friends, an unfamiliar video site and a weather app that replicates what they already get on the Weather Channel, their smartphones and laptops. This is supposed to make someone want to buy a premium, top-of-the-line TV?
The point of this is not to pick on Samsung; almost every player in the connected TV space is erroneously highlighting apps when they should be highlighting content. Other than Dailymotion, which is at least a video content offering (albeit far from mainstream), what can the others offer? It’s not being communicated in this ad.
Where’s the Value in Twitter on Your TV?
The current industry vision for Twitter on your TV is essentially a direct port of a Twitter client into your living room that adds almost no content to the experience. In this scenario, your television faithfully recreates the Twitter experience for wired couch potatoes. Never mind that people already have Twitter on their phone, iPad, laptop, and already do tweet from the couch. Never mind that tweeting from your TV would likely require a full keyboard –- or worse, some sort of onscreen keypad. Never mind that browsing links to websites optimized for computer and mobile screens is never fun on a television. Replicating Twitter as-is on a connected TV it is not a win for anyone. And yet, this is what all the manufacturers are doing.
Twitter can work on the TV, though, if you think about the content that a Twitter feed inherently presents.
Imagine a TV Twitter “client” that is focused on a visual content delivery experience. Rather than reading or replying to tweets, a content-focused approach to Twitter on your TV would pull out the rich media that people are sharing. What if you could, for example, subscribe to the TED Twitter feed and watch all the videos that it shares automatically on your television? What if the TV Twitter client automatically pulled out the YouTube videos your friends shared on Twitter or the Twitpic() images and automatically put them in an easily browsable gallery? What if it didn’t feel like Twitter at all?
Living room users don’t care about trivial updates and hashtags. They care about media and entertainment (or infotainment). For TV apps to succeed, they need to provide engaging content to the audience. For connected TV apps to resonate with casual users and gain wide adoption, they must recognize that it’s all about content in the end. This, of course, requires more imagination, more innovation and a bit more work. But it can be done, and the future of connected device apps depends on developers enthusiastically marching down this path.
How Connected Device Companies Can Win
Why am I convinced that content is king for the digital home? Because consumers have traditionally paid a premium for more access to media in their living rooms. As TV evolved from three to 500 channels, and later introduced VCRs, DVD players and DVR, it was the access to content, and not the technology itself, that fueled mass adoption. When content providers offer more choices, users are willing to pay more for increased access to new media.
Interactive TV has tried and failed for 20 years because it has always focused on features and functions instead of content. So how can connected devices and media companies push new, app-delivered content?
First, start foregrounding that content. In marketing, benefits beat features, which beat raw specs. By embracing the “Now With Apps!” marketing mantra, consumer electronic companies are highlighting features. They might as well be advertising the shipping weight of their devices or the HD processor inside. The function of smart devices in the digital living room is to entertain people.
Second, everyone from app developers to smart device manufacturers to marketing and ad executives must humanize this new technology. Tell a story. Engage people’s emotions. Draw users in by making technology personal. The average user doesn’t get excited that his or her TV has a Flickr() app. But most people would like to see photos of their friends and family on the TV. Average users can’t easily identify with a Pandora app, but the idea of your TV playing the kind of music you want to hear sounds appealing. There’s probably even a place for showing pictures of cats with funny captions — just don’t call it an app.
Saying the name of the TV app doesn’t sell it. Sure, if you are reading this blog, many of those apps make sense, but for shoppers at Costco, it looks like word salad. The future of the digital home is exciting, to be sure. In order to effectively launch a smart living room, the industry as a whole needs to focus on the experiences people can have with new technology and not rattle off a bullet list of apps.
The Living Room State of Mind
Electronics companies and entrepreneurs must understand the psychology of the couch. It is the one location where people want to be entertained, often passively. They spend all day in front of phones, e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. When they kick back on the couch, the last thing they want to see is a list of unread e-mails and a loading screen.
That’s why a winning way to make and market connected TV in 2011 is delivering content, not apps.
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