Telly addicts
While the benefits of being connected to the Internet from a consumer electronic device (as opposed to PC or phone) are many, for most people the killer feature is video on demand (VOD).
The tablet devices that have dominated the technology hardware news this year are also being referred to as media tablets, to differentiate them from mobile, touch screen Windows devices. But the choice of name also reveals their primary purpose - media consumption.
Essentially these are mobile phones with bigger screens and batteries. Anyone who has tried to watch video on a smartphone for more than a few minutes will appreciate this was an unfilled niche, although in our opinion you've really got to covet video on the move to justify the extra expense and hassle of adding a media tablet to your existing stable of devices.
As the impending flood of Android tablets illustrates, it's not difficult to make one, but what will probably determine their success is video content. Yes, they can double up as e-readers, games devices, video conferencing tools, etc, but there's not only demand for mobile VOD, but the incremental revenue opportunities are greater too.
So today we're getting varied reports about new web-based VOD services in the pipeline from Sony, Amazon and Apple. The FT is reporting that Sony will unveil a new music and video subscription service to run across its range of devices, with PS3 as the hub, at IFA today.
Meanwhile Apple is generating its usual speculation frenzy in the build up to a launch event clearly times to coincide with the start of IFA. Bloomberg, among others, reckons Apple is going to launch a new, improved Apple TV, which will offer streaming TV and movies provided by Netflix. Lastly, the WSJ reports that Amazon is working on its own web TV and movie streaming service.
It will be interesting to see how these three companies approach this nascent market as they're all coming at it from different directions. Sony is a consumer electronics company with a strong interest in content generation, Apple is a tech company with all brand momentum on its side and the leading Internet music service. Amazon, meanwhile, has shown it understands hardware with the Kindle and is, of course, the world's biggest etailer.
But let's not forget Google. It has been pretty quiet on this matter since the announcement of Google TV back in May, but there was the recent launch of free movies on YouTube and, of course, Sony is a key partner in Google TV.
The size and commercial implications of the IPTV market rival even the smartphone market. Furthermore, with mobile TV becoming ever more prominent, we're seeing the collision of the IT, telco and consumer electronics worlds in this arena. It should be a hell of a tussle.
