For an informed view on connected entertainment in the UK & Ireland, visit Cue Entertainment
In another world Apple CEO Steve Jobs would have an
outstanding career as a TV chat show host. His almost faultless performance
last Wednesday in front of an adoring audience of “Macheads” was a lesson in
how to manage a corporate presentation. It is one that should be learned by
some of the executives who stood up in front of the rather more hostile press
corps at the vast IFA Consumer Electronics fair in Berlin.
As Apple
has demonstrated over the past few years and Jobs confirmed last week,
understanding what the public think they want is key to the launch of a CE
device. While pundits argue over the technical merits of Apple products, the
consumer response is less “Why would I need that?” and more “That could really
change my life.”
The
one-hour Apple presentation featured just four products and almost
single-handed, Jobs demonstrated complete mastery of what had been achieved in
each range together with Apple’s motivation for the change. The wildly
successful iPods — Shuffle, Nano and Touch — have been updated, upgraded and
reduced in size. The smaller iPods are now eminently wearable and Jobs brands
them “clip and go”. Here is someone who recognises an everyday problem and
responds to customer demand, even though it kills the iPod armband market at a
stroke.
The new
iPod Touch 4G is an iPhone with one exception, “You can’t make phone calls on
it and you don’t need a contract,” as Jobs points out. Apart from being a very
good music and video player, it is the biggest-selling mobile gaming device in
the world. If the demo is anything to go by, it looks set to retain that No. 1
spot, especially since it has the same high-quality retina display as the
iPhone.
The iPods
are not speculative products, run up the Apple flagpole to see if they will
sell, which they do in increasing numbers. Nor are they any longer an isolated
island of proprietary technology in the world of music playback. The iPod is an
integrated part of the Apple eco-system, as Jobs demonstrated later in his
presentation.
Two themes
have run through the consumer electronics market this year, leaving aside the
juggernaut of 3D for the moment: the introduction of connected TVs and the
addition of video to portable handheld devices. In Berlin, the giants of the TV
industry competed to proclaim the superiority of their hardware. Bigger and
brighter screens with wider aspect ratios — Philips’ 21:9 3D HD LED 58-inch
wide cinema screen for example — are among the many products that manufacturers
have lined up alongside rice steamers and fat-free chip ovens to please the
visiting crowds.
Large sums
of money have been invested in the concept of connected TV, although there is
little evidence of a pent-up consumer demand. Sony, Samsung and LG are in the
vanguard of several manufacturers hoping that interactive broadband TV will be
the next big thing. Google TV was announced in May and a number of specialist
companies plan dedicated set-top boxes to link Freeview and the internet, most
of which are complex and relatively expensive.
For the
most part, it seems that connected TV is here because the silicon is now
available to make it possible. So will the man or woman in the street rush out
to buy the new technology? If they do, the conversation might well go something
like this:
Sales
assistant, “This model is a connected TV, it connects to your broadband
connection.”
Potential
customer, “Why would I want to do that?”
SA, “It
links the power of the internet to broadcast television”
PC, “I
have a computer to do that.”
SA, “With
this you can interact with your TV — get recipes on-screen, email the
programme, access Twitter, read biographies of famous chefs…”
PC, “What
about the other people watching the TV while I’m doing that?”
SA, “This
is the future of television…”
PC, “I can
already do all that on my iPhone without upsetting the rest of the family…”
The text
of the sales pitch is from a video report on connected TVs from IFA, the
customer responses are imagined.
Despite
the failure of technocrats to fully understand the market, hardware and
software companies perceive a tantalising opportunity in connected television.
If consumers can be persuaded to click to buy or rent video content as easily
as they do with iTunes, then revenues will start to become significant. If
volumes increase in line with long-term predictions, they may even start to
approach the earnings from packaged media.
Enter once
again Steve Jobs, who says there are already 160 million iTunes account holders
in 23 different countries. He recognises that the need to permanently own a
copy of a film or TV series is well met by DVD and Blu-ray. He also understands
that many people watch once and rarely return. Make the experience affordable,
say 99 cents a time, and if viewers want to watch again they will, is his
angle.
Hard disk
drives are a noisy, heat-generating and ephemeral medium on which to store your
valuable entertainment collection and managing the content is a never-ending
challenge. So with the launch of the updated Apple TV, he gets rid of them.
Apple TV
has no screen and no content storage. It’s just a black box, a quarter the size
of its immediate predecessor, coupled with a neat remote control. In the US
version at least, there is not even a “power brick” to plug into the wall. One
lead goes the mains, an HDMI lead links to any modern TV and that’s it. Owners
with WiFi in the home now have connected TV, though they can plug-in their
broadband as well if they wish.
It is too
small to be a set-top box, so it can easily be hidden from view, and it doesn’t
hum, buzz or generate more heat than light, since content comes from the Cloud
and not from a spinning disk.
A box
without an input is of little use. As Jobs says of the complex earlier version,
which was nevertheless well liked by those who bought it, “The No.1, 2 and 3
thing they want is Hollywood movies.”
So Apple
has done a deal with Fox and ABC to offer streamed feature film rental to the
user for $4.99, available day and date with the DVD release and Jobs is
convinced other studios will follow their lead. With access to Netflix, YouTube
and other online sources, the package is already tempting but Jobs is after the
mass market.
The old Apple TV cost $299; the latest incarnation has been
slashed in price to $99. At that price it is almost an impulse purchase.
But as the
best shopping channels always say, “Wait, there’s more!”
The
“potential customer” above already has an iPhone, others may own an iPad, or
even an iPod Nano. Anything that is on these devices can be seen or heard on
Apple TV at a touch, regardless of the brand of the main TV. Music, films,
holiday photos and more can be seamlessly transferred from handheld device to
the big screen and back again, almost without missing a beat.
Jobs is
positioning Apple TV as a must-have accessory for your iPhone and iPod, rather
than a new way of watching television, even though the functionality is the
equal of many of the dedicated connected TVs that are on display in Berlin. And
as the link is from an Apple device, rather than via a built-in and proprietary
interface, many millions of iPhone, iPod and iPad owners are already holding
the remote control.
It’s only
720p, as some nay-sayers have pointed out, and it is true that the Apple TV
doesn’t do 1080p HD. However, the lower resolution means lower data rates and
more consistent performance on today’s ADSL connections. And if the public
demand is there, Jobs will undoubtedly announce a 1080p version next year,
although 3D enthusiasts, if there are any out thereby then, may have to wait a
little longer.
In the
meantime, at least there is one space where Blu-ray can still excel. If only it
had an advocate as articulate as Steve Jobs.
No comments:
Post a Comment