The TV App Stores Are Coming, The TV App Stores Are Coming - Simon Applebaum - MediaBizBloggers

Two months after the announcement of Google TV, we've yet to hear from Google and the companies backing them up (Sony/Dish Network/Intel/Logitech/Adobe Systems/BestBuy) about when this uber-interactive venture will launch this fall and what applications will be available to consumers when it does.

We're awaiting those details at a point where every major TV set maker, every major cable operator, DirecTV, Dish, FiOS TV and U-verse are making some flavor of interactive capability available to their customers. In advance of Google's move, or competitive actions by Apple, Amazon.com or the universe of over-the-top converter providers as Boxee or Roku, one TV set maker wants to dramatically expand its interactive offering. The way there: the applications store approach, similar to what's worked out so big for mobile devices, resulting so far in more than 250,000 I-Phone, 100,000-plus Android, and tens of thousands of I-Pad services.

Samsung senior executives didn't say "app store" when they unveiled their strategy at a Time Warner Center press conference in New York last Wednesday. But that's their game--and if you don't think other major set producers, Google and the multi-channel distributors are monitoring how this works out, have your Brooklyn Bridge bids ready. There are 80 interactive apps running on Samsung HDTV sets now, including Facebook, Twitter and Google Maps, en route to 200 by the end of the year. To get beyond that mark, Samsung is making developer kits available to anyone who wants to create something, be they mobile service adapters or hackers fueling their imaginations. Part two: a series of events bringing developers together, starting August 31 in San Jose, California.

The most important part of all: a "Free The TV Challenge" competition splitting $500,000 in cash among the most innovative ITV apps submitted for Samsung's use. One developer will receive $200,000 for the effort, while all the cash winners and 10 runners-up will have their apps showcased at Samsung's Consumer Electronics Show booth in Las Vegas next January, then earn a spot inside the company's sets.

Going into this week, more than 100 developers have notified they support Samsung's project and/or will create applications. Submissions will be accepted until November 11, and all the details are online at www.freethetvchallenge.com.

In a way, Samsung's cash offer parallels the fund route a few Silicon Valley venture capitalists created to jump start I-Phone and I-Pad app development. Having done a tremendous job there, it's telling that no venture capital or angel investor firm has stepped up to the plate yet with a fund for Google TV apps. Where's the spirit, people? Where's the drive?

Give Samsung credit for leaping into the fray with this "Free The TV" project. Now we'll see what kind of interactive TV can result with more than just lip service. Again, you have to think other TV app stores will emerge from set and multi-channel players alike if this venture produces. Believe as well Google could get a hint over how to generate even more from its TV course.

Now if a variety of app stores happen, there's the issue of how to insure compatibility among devices--the proverbial one version running everywhere ideal that helped hold interactive TV back from mass market adoption for decades. First things first, as in one app store working out awesome.

Until the next time, stay well and stay tuned! **Some people make television to entertain an audience. Some people make television to illuminate corners of our world and ourselves. Others make television to challenge or inspire our ways of being human. Executive producer David L. Wolper, over a half-century career, made television accomplishing all of that with tremendous consistency, class, taste and imagination. Whether Roots or Biography, the National Geographic Specials or the 1984 Summer Olympics opening/closing ceremonies, Wolper generated a TV track record that will be relevant and timeless for our lifetimes and lifetimes to come. An impresario of the highest order, Wolper died last week at age 82. One final posthumous Emmy Award later this month is mandatory.

Wolper leaves behind his family, a family of quality production talent he nurtured over his career, and an overwhelmingly grateful audience.

Simon Applebaum is host/producer of Tomorrow Will Be Televised, the Internet radio/podcast-distributed program about the TV scene. The program runs live Mondays/Fridays at 3 p.m. Eastern time, noon Pacific time, on www.blogtalkradio.com, with replays available at www.blogtalkradio.com/simonapple04. Tomorrow also is available on podcast, TiVo and Cable in the Classroom (www.ciconline.org/podcasts). Have a question or reaction? Send it to simonapple04@yahoo.com

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