Looking back over the past year,
there was a clear technology battle underway that could affect a place in our
everyday lives; that battle was for your living room.
It’s not a new battle and there
have been many players over the years; starting with the cable companies, Sky,
broadband providers and now very much swinging directly in the hands of the
‘big three’ (Apple, Google, Microsoft).
A new Apple TV device was launched,
which promised integration into the infamous iTunes platform and whilst Apple
continuously claimed that the device was still in ‘hobby’ mode, the die-hard
fans went out and bought, hacked, watched and played. Largely though, the device remained a
‘hobbyist’ piece of kit for the minority.
It’s still a device many are looking and reflecting upon as the future
of TV, but I’m sceptical of the prospect of iPhone/iPad applications running on
the television screen being the ultimate answer in TV entertainment.
Likewise, and to much greater
fanfare, Google announced their new Google TV venture and even managed to
wrangle in some device manufacturers in the form of Sony and Logitech into
building set top boxes for them, which looked promising indeed for the Internet
Search giant. The only problem however
was that no one seemed interested in buying their devices and the reviews suggested
that they still difficult to use for things beyond changing the channel (such
as searching the Internet – presumably via Google Search). Towards the end of the year, Logitech
announced huge losses in their investment into the project and look likely to
pull out of the venture all together at some point in the near future.
It seemed that Microsoft were
once again, well and truly out of the race in the battle for the TV space –
however they may recently have positioned themselves as the front runners and
it could have much wider implications.
Let me explain....
The humble Xbox was the device
that Microsoft launched to attack the games entertainment market and steal
eyeballs (or perhaps that should be thumbs?), from Sega, Nintendo and Sony in
the console world – and whilst Sega and Nintendo seemed to stumble, Sony
provided a much bigger obstacle to overcome.
Not to worry though, because the hackers had already discovered
vulnerability in Microsoft’s Xbox, which allowed the device to be ‘updated’ with
new software such as XBMC (Xbox Media Centre), which effectively allowed music
and movies to be loaded directly onto the device (as well as free, ripped –
though illegal – games to be played).
Whilst other companies might have
fought with the users (and I’m sure they initially did), Microsoft saw what
happened and learnt from it and by the time the Xbox 360 launched, ‘Media
Center’ was built right into the device.
Phase one was then complete.
Phase two was to catch up with
the radical new controllers that Nintendo had introduced with the launch of the
Wii. The way to do this was to bring out
something new and radical – the Kinect, a 3D camera and voice recognition
device that allows “you to be the controller” as the tag line says. The device was the biggest selling piece of
kit that Christmas and has broken many other records along the way. The Xbox sales have spiralled and has been
the number one console for a number of consecutive months, almost unchallenged
as Sony have struggled to match the pizzazz of the Kinect and faced their own
security problems following a hacking attack on their customer databases.
Phase three thought is the one
that has potentially propelled Microsoft right to the front of battle for the
living room space; the release of their new Xbox dashboard technology. The software update has integrated Bing
search services directly into Microsoft’s favoured Metro style tiled interface
and also allowed ‘apps’ to be downloaded and ran directly on the Xbox
(providing you’re also an Xbox Live Gold customer – which is also a little bit
genius on Microsoft’s part). Some of
these applications however are movie and television content providers such as
Sky, LoveFilm, 4oD, etc in the UK; using these streaming content services, it
brings them directly into your living room and onto your screen through your
games console!
What’s more, the Kinect with
motion and voice control mean that slightly more complex tasks that Google
seemed to struggle with on a remote control are simplified and able to be
achieved within an overall package. The
current price for an Xbox is also attractive to users as it’s not a dedicated
set top box, it’s also a console aimed at both serious and casual gamers.
When I first seen this
demonstrated by Microsoft at CES, I pondered whether the cost of entry would be
too high for most users to afford for Sky services, Zune memberships, Xbox Live
Gold membership, etc. It is still a high
price to pay overall, but if technology continues along the path it seems to be
on towards streaming media, there is no reason why companies such as Sky cannot
unbundle their satellite subscription services and offer an ‘Internet streamed’
service only; especially if it attracts a few more customers.
The upsides for Microsoft getting
this right could be huge too! If Xbox
dominates the living room space, they have already demonstrated and have in
place integrations with Windows Phone services, Kinect hardware and could
easily expand these same ‘Xbox Entertainment Services’ directly into Windows
8. Interconnected devices, powered by
smart software are exactly where Microsoft needs to be in the consumer space
and Xbox could just be the device to do it.
I look forward to a lot more to
come.
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