INDustry: How Apple's Smart Genius TV Could Win Big. - Michael Collette

Is it a rumor Or is it now a foregone conclusion Seems the bandwagon has started to roll on Apple39s entry into the Smart TV marketThe question is what are they going to do I guess we all expect Apple to enter the TV market with something very different very competitive and very creativeamp8230 a better Smart TVamp8230 a smarter Smart TV Genius TVSo how might a Genius TV be better than today39s Smart TVs I think there are several really compelling opportunitiesPremium Silicon Apple isn39t afraid to charge a premium for their hardware Actually we can be almost certain that Apple TVs will cost quite a bit more per screen inch than current offerings if only because we know they aren39t joining a crowded market to enjoy razor slim or negative margins One area where TVs kinda skimp is on processing power With Intel and Broadcom exiting the TV chipset market most manufacturers are now dependent on Taiwanese chip vendors for their guts I think we39ll see a stronger silicon core inside Apple TVs and that will translate to better applications support amp8211 especially for interactive overlays on live TV amp8211 and probably better video streaming over the Internet Also for those that saw my interview with Zeitera CEO Dan Eakins we could see better video processing and potentially earlier support for dynamic ad insertionA Real App Market While the growth of applications on Smart TVs has been reasonably positive the truth is Smart TVs are generally very under developed from an application perspective Traditional TV OEMs have opted for very closed very controlled application marketplaces and that39s well a drag for app developers and consumers Presently to get an application on a given TV app developers have to find their way through a challenging set of obstacles that vary widely by TV platformApple certainly could change this dramatically by extending their current iPhoneiPad application ecosystem to their Smart TV It would lead to rapid and dramatic differentiation of their TV offering It would justify the large price premium that their likely to offer The larger value proposition would cause consumers to spend more time with the applications and that would start a virtuous cycle of app consumption and app development It would in fact be GeniusCritical Mass With a real app market we could see significant market share shift to Apple Presently there are 17 TV manufacturers selling products in North America I think We can expect that number to decline as thin margins drive consolidation but nonetheless it39s a very diffuse market from an application developer39s perspective A big institutional app from Hulu or Netflix has enough financial backing to spread across many devices But for smaller developers a diffuse market is really problematic We can be pretty sure that Apple sees the opportunity to fix this as a pillar of their strategy And that means that when they come they will come big and will be playing for dominant market share in a relatively short period of time If they don39t reach critical mass they39ll lose developer support and an anchor source of product differentiation If they get big apps will proliferate and differentiation will spiral up So it39s kind39ve a 39win big or go home39 situation It39s a big drama as that will be tough in what is an extremely price sensitive market with truly ferocious amp8211 and huge amp8211 competitors Fans will point to Apple39s stunning dominance of the tablet market as an illustration of consumers39 willingness to pay for Apple amp8211 and Apple39s ability to win bigI39d pay more for a Genius TV Would youA Unified Viewer Experience The consumer experience on Smart TVs varies a bit But for the most part Smart TVs tend to have a bifurcated TV viewing experience Consumers can watch TV Or they can play with widgets and apps For the most part the TV viewing experience is toggled I believe this is largely why app usage is so far anemic There are good reasons for this not the least of which is the potential for UI babble if the TV imposes its own UI on top of the onscreen guides provided by cable and satellite However I think Apple will probably try to tackle this problem This could be the quotcodequot that Jobs claims to have cracked Not sure but if Apple can find a way to unify the TV viewing experience and productize iTunes and other Internetbased video offerings in a manner that allows consumers to seamlessly move from broadcast TV sources to broadband TV sources that will be well GeniusMichael Collette is the founder and general manager of MediaTech Strategies a consulting company specializing in commercialization of new media technologies Recently weamp8217ve been very active in Smart TVConnected TV Advanced Advertising and Interactive Television Michael can be reached at michaelcollettecomRead all Michael39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Michael ColletteCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

INDustry: How Apple's Smart Genius TV Could Win Big. - Michael Collette

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Michael Collette

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

INDustry: How Apple's Smart Genius TV Could Win Big. - Michael Collette

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Michael Collette

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

The payment was successful

Cookies

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership