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[Monday at NAB]
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Cruising for Gadgets that Make the A-List
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by Susan Ashworth,
~ April 14, 2008
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TV TECHNOLOGY
The biggest bets aren’t being made in the casino down the street. The trickiest, most elusive wagers are being made here at the NAB Show, where attendees research technologies and search for clues in an effort to find tomorrow’s leading consumer device.
Will it be something that mirrors the iPod? Or a device that pulls in over-the-air HDTV? Or something no one has seen before?
Vegas is a betting town, but place your chips on the wrong platform and it’s a mistake that could lead you down a dark, fruitless path.
That’s something Brian Cooley is hoping to help attendees avoid. Cooley, who is the editor-at-large of CNET, will lead the NAB Super Session “Cool Gadgets, Hot Content,” today, 1 p.m., in an attempt to guide attendees toward making smart choices. The session is sponsored by LG Electronics.
NAME OF THE GAME
The questions are plentiful: Which devices are best for content developers? What kinds of features should manufacturers include? And perhaps most confusing of all: Why are some well-conceived devices still destined for failure?
During the session, Cooley will turn his focus toward technologies that attendees ought to consider, such as smartphones, Internet set-top boxes and in-car connectivity offerings. The newest batch of smartphones allows users to access on-demand Internet-style media from anywhere.
Likewise, the new crop of Internet set-top boxes — which range from the new version of Apple TV to a solution from LG and Netflix to a solution that allows users to download movies from Amazon.com to a Tivo box — are all poised to “create some form of ‘tomorrow’s TV,’” Cooley said. He also suggests attendees keep a close eye on Internet-in-the-car technologies.
“[These technologies] will create a whole new audience for TV and visual content that isn’t there today,” he said.
Cooley also has a key message for broadcasters: One of the biggest mistakes you can make when trying to create content for the next up-and-coming electronic product is to try to maintain a hold on content exclusivity.
“Exclusivity isn’t the name of their game any more — it can’t be, because most of what one can see or hear on a TV station or radio station is available from numerous other sources online, legal and otherwise,” Cooley said.
Broadcasters must understand their strengths before moving forward.
“What’s unique about the broadcaster is their brand, personality and understanding of the local ad market they operate in,” Cooley said. “The various outlets and aggregators on the Internet can’t replicate that. So broadcasters need to protect and grow those advantages.
SUCCESS IN HAND
“Embrace user engagement, not one-way distribution of content,” he said. “And know what you are; don’t try to be all media types to all people. You have already spent years or decades developing your stationality and brand. Never let that go.”
After content has been created, what technologies are apt to do well in this new space? One technology that has assuredly answered the call is Apple’s iPod.
“It answered needs, did it clearly and simply, but also pushed the envelope in a way that continued to answer demand, even though the user couldn’t tell you they had these needs until they were solved by Apple,” he said.
But, repeating that success isn’t easy. “Notice that even Apple TV and the iPhone have not followed the same pattern of course-altering success,” he said. “It’s a very difficult thing to do, especially if you are entering an active or even mature space. But all Apple’s products are generally admirable because they create delight in real people’s lifestyles and innovate relentlessly.”
Cooley pinpoints three key themes to keep in mind when creating content and technologies for this new market segment.
“The future is about user choice, voice and control,” he said. “[Consumers] choose what they consume, when and where they consume it.”
However, that doesn’t mean that the professional broadcast-delivered content is somehow doomed, he said.
“Broadcast stations and their Internet presence can continue to command a large amount of user mindshare based on the fact that they have it today, and if they work hard at maintaining the flavor of their brand, they will maintain that mindshare.”
Cooley stresses that all content creators must begin to think like users.
“Everyone at the station should be buying and using every technology out there that relates to audio visual content enjoyment. It should never be the case that none or maybe just one of the senior people at a station have [technologies like] Apple TV, Tivo, an iPhone, Wi-Fi laptops or smartphones.
“If you don’t live where your users live in terms of their digital lifestyle, then you are doomed to softening user share over the years ahead,” he said.
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