Out of all the evolving forms of media that we hear about these days, the format that has fundamentally changed the least so far is the television. These innocuous boxes have been teased with monikers like "Smart TV" and "Connected TV," but really they have yet to change the way we think about our TVs--they remain appliances for watching certain programs. I for one have watched with hesitancy as these new devices are paraded around as game changing, touting features like on demand video services to supplement your plain cable. Let's face it, a connected TV is just a box with some apps. I not only intend to make the argument that TV is fundamentally unchanged at this time, but to lay out the criteria which will create an innovative, industry-disrupting connected TV.
One of the new buzzwords in this era of rapid innovation is the natural user interface (NUI), perhaps coined as a formalization of the craze Apple has started with their popular iOS touch interface. By using touch, speech, haptic, and gestural controls, NUIs hope to make all computing devices easier and more intuitive to use. While the NUI explosion hasn't happened yet, the fact that corporations like Microsoft are researching NUIs heavily just goes to show that this concept is here to stay. To that end, I also hope to address what effects the adoption of NUIs will have on connected TVs and their surrounding ecosystem, including the usage of peripherals for control and the concept of an app when dealing with large screens.
These ideas I am presenting are just that, unadulterated concepts that I feel would make connected televisions much more useful.
Current Affairs
For all of the articles comparing the different boxes on the market today, there are really very few differences between the different connected TV boxes. They all fundamentally allow the same behaviors, only with varying levels of compatibility with different services and different user interfaces. My bet is that many of these boxes are bought simply to connect TVs to dear Netflix, and yet there are also new TVs with these services built in. I have these features on my new TV/monitor, and the only one I use is Netflix. I might use Hulu or Pandora if I was especially fond of streaming TV shows or music, but regardless we've found a fundamental flaw in this supposed "new class" of devices: they don't do anything fundamentally new. Apps on TVs are just more ways to do the same thing a TV has always done.
The business of creating these boxes is surely difficult, what with all the different content distributors to deal with, but there simply doesn't seem to be much that these devices are accomplishing. Yes, you can browse the web on some of them, but why do you want to in the first place? In fact, what is true purpose of a TV? With their large screens, TVs obviously excel at content consumption, especially video, and thus their assumed role up until now. Connected TVs claim to bring more content for you to consume, and yes we all love having Netflix on our TVs, but what the entire industry is missing is the chance to change the way we consume our content completely. By allowing the content to exist free from the restraints of a TV station--something that necessitates broadcast schedules and channel numbers--connected TV could potentially do to our televisions what internet has done to virtually every other medium: give the user complete control.
Streamlining the Frontier
The very basic assumptions in TV today are up for reevaluation in an day when all content is delivered instantly, over the air, whenever we want it. The idea of a TV station as we know it may simply disappear in the next twenty years as over the air broadcasts become dead to a new generation of internet savvy consumers. These consumers expect their "connected" TVs to deliver digital content in a functionally digital way--allowing for Netflix-like consumption of any content, from a network's entire library of shows to live news and sports. Fundamentally, what this change means is that time slots should be cast out in favor of an on demand model for all content. Imagine being able to scroll through a list of shows available from your favorite network and to watch the any episode at any time. It sounds wonderful, right? It gives users the control, something they have to come love with services like Hulu or Netflix. While this sounds like it could mean the end of "tuning in" to catch your favorite shows, this can still be preserved by presenting whatever is on currently alongside a network's on demand options, also allowing the traditional TV advertising model, commercials, to remain in existence.
Another fundamental change that connected TVs can usher in is the elimination of the pesky numbers we have come to know all of the networks by. The system now may seem to function perfectly well, but imagine the power rush you'll feel when you are able to arrange your connected TV's home screen however you want: you can arrange your favorite channels in slots one through eight and finally rid yourself of the Home Shopping Network. This, in turn, will benefit the networks by allowing them to form a closer connection with their consumers. The same way apps on your smartphone feel personal because you choose to download and then arrange them, your TV channels will be personalized to your tastes. The possibilities extend even further with the potential for different home screens that change automatically based on the time of day. Future connected TVs could streamline your experience by automatically detecting the channels you watch at night, news and network dramas, and separating those from the cartoons your family watches on Sunday mornings.
Natural Tendencies
Today's connected TVs may be making a little progress in the area of content, but where they have taken a huge step backwards is in their user interfaces. Google's smart TV actually ships with a controller that has a keyboard... on the controller. It's just awful for usability, and certainly kills any sense of wonder that the box could provide thanks to its lack of intuitive controls. Someone has got to do something about this--this is an area in which even Apple is weak. While Steve Jobs has repeatedly called the Apple TV a "hobby," the lack of a powerful user interface definitely makes practicing this hobby a little bit slow. Getting to the point, a reasonable assumption is that smartphones and tablets will continue to penetrate the market and by the time connected TVs become widespread, they will be in a majority of consumers' pockets. This will benefit the connected TV industry in two ways: control and continuity.
While there are remote controls apps for some smartphones already, the true killer for a connected TV as described above would be a tablet as a remote. I'm not talking about including a tablet with every TV, but traditional controllers simply have no place in controlling these devices--manufacturers should at some point in the future stop including separate remotes for these boxes, at the very least. A tablet remote would allow the user to view a shrunken version of the TV's UI right in their laps, allowing them to interact with the content itself right from their couches, leveraging the handheld device's native gestures and keyboard rather than creating a new smart TV specific solution.
In fact, another great benefit of this type of interaction is the ability to integrate with existing operating systems. The connected TV's interface should be heavily influenced by the touch-based mobile user interfaces, allowing big players like Apple and Google to retain control of their platforms and create continuity, while forcing smaller players like Boxee, Roku, etc play nicely with their competitors' mobile OSs for remote capabilities. I think it's inevitable that the big players will begin rolling out unified OSs across all of their devices, both mobile and home devices (including computers), and thus these interactions will help usher in a new era of seamless computing, allowing interoperability of documents, media, and apps at home and on the go.
While apps on the go will remain as tools to accomplish specific actions, my hope is that apps on large television screens will shift away from blown up versions of mobile apps that have no additional functionality to computer-like apps that usher in a whole new wave of functionality, similar perhaps to the "hubs" concept in Windows Phone 7. A connected TV app for Netflix, for example, would allow touch friendly media browsing and advanced searching, versus a channel for Netflix, which would simply list your instant queue alongside all of the other networks' content. Add an intuitive natural interface that can be used across all of your devices we've got a winner. Not only is usability the winner when consumers can access their content more naturally, but the whole industry will explode.
Conclusion
My hope is that connected TV manufacturers will wake up and stop trying to make video services and app stores to compete with their opponents in their typical "me too" fashion, and instead focus on innovating. An operating system that lives on a single company's box doesn't live or die by its app ecosystem, what it needs is an innovative way to give consumers greater control over their media--the extensibility that comes with apps is unnecessary if your platform doesn't differentiate itself from your opponents! By allowing the principles of NUI design to guide their choices, connected TV manufacturers have a chance to revolutionize both the TV interface itself and the way consumers access their content. Powerful TV viewing unlike anything we have today may only be a few years away, if only the focus turns away from offering a volume of content to allowing users to choose their own content, on their own schedule.
Sources
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/03/microsoft-research-techfest-2010-nui-and-the-cloud-dominate.ars
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
What Does the NGP Mean for Apple's Position in the Mobile Gaming Market?
I just watched the video from the first demo of Sony's newly announced (and long rumored) successor the PSP, known as the NGP. To fans of the PSP it must look like an appealing, modern piece of hardware, something to update their dated devices to this decade's tech. The sheer number of features included on this bad boy makes my mouth water, but at the same time raises in me questions about the direction of mobile gaming as a whole. While the PSP-faithful will surely upgrade for the sake of remaining current, what does this promising technology offer developers and most importantly, should Apple take note?
The fate of the mobile gaming world has just been shaken up again by this new salvo from Sony, landing them smack dab in the middle of this growing turf war. As connected devices become more and more omnipresent, the battle for mindshare and dollars is heating up, with Apple especially skyrocketing in popularity over just a short period. While the latest from Nintendo is out in the open and many details of Apple's iPad mkII and iPhone 5 are floating about, what predictions can be made in this rapidly evolving market?
State of the Market
I fall into what I would imagine is a common pattern among this generation of gamers--I started with a GameBoy Color and lived with Nintendo through my youth, playing GBA and DS in all the inappropriate places I could have--then hopped onto the iPhone platform in 2007. What I realized as I downloaded my first game from the App Store, and what we all know now, is that Apple's pervasive iOS ecosystem is a legitimate contender in the handheld gaming space. By approaching their competitors from the MP3 and phone markets, Apple essentially allowed their new platform to tap into a huge wealth of new customers. Developers then flocked to the platform, its huge installed base and instant, centralized distribution system encouraging a whole new regime of mobile gaming.
I believe that in the wake left behind Apple's huge leap forward, there has been a fundamental change in the hardware, and therefore the games, that people WANT in their hands, on the go, all the time. Clearly this trend has affected the design of the NGP--the touchscreen says it all. In a time when even our old friend the Blackberry is catching up by tacking on a touch screen, shouldn't your PSP? Sure, Nintendo got out ahead of that one with the DS, but what does the NGP signal for the market in the years to come?
There is no monopoly on Innovation
From purely a hardware perspective the NGP is highly impressive: the possibility of a quad-core CPU powering a 5" OLED screen right in your hands is going to be leaps and bounds ahead of anything Nintendo or Apple currently have coming. As a company known for building powerful consoles, Sony holds up in that respect. But generally Sony is not known for driving innovation, that's something typically left to Nintendo or Apple. That, most of all, is why I find the specs of the NGP to be so awe inspiring. The sheer geeky joy I get from imagining the games created for this platform just titillates me.
What I mean to address primarily is not the hardware itself but the innovation displayed by finally implementing a rear touch-screen on their device. The ability to include such a technology has been around for years and now Sony has finally embraced the technology--in a huge way, nonetheless. Including it as a feature on their new flagship handheld, in a mobile gaming space where Apple is steadily sucking in consumers and Nintendo remains largely unaffected thanks to their younger audience, shows that Sony has stepped up to the plate and is planning to challenge their newest competitor at their own game. The NGP is more than Sony's entry into the world of touch gaming, what this move represents for Sony is an attempt to change the game itself, moving the battle from the world of hardware innovation, in which Apple has reigned supreme as of late, to a battlefield where Sony has a potential royal flush: developers.
Use what you've got: Developers
Apple has thus far made huge inroads into mobile gaming where others have failed: they have gotten their devices in more pockets than anyone else. The factor that will end up winning the war, though, is not the hardware but the games. Apple's innovative new input methods certainly help, but what has contributed to iOS's gaming success most of all is the revolution in casual gaming. The continued success of games like Angry Birds or Doodle Jump shows developers and consumers alike that Apple has a winning formula, one which others like Microsoft are trying to replicate. For instance, the Windows Phone 7 platform does show promise with its similar caliber of games, even drawing on Microsoft's Xbox developers, but the platform is virtually identical to iOS in most respects--there certainly aren't any WP7 games that couldn't exist on iOS, the hardware is after all very similar. Even the integration of Xbox Live has not made much of a lasting impact for Microsoft. Of course, it's not like anyone plays iPhone games for the social networking (Game Center, I'm looking at you: Get useful please).
In every sense, then, I think the fact that Sony is approaching the NGP from this innovative angle means that it is serious about challenging Apple for consumers' hearts and dollars. An example: nestled among the list of games in devlopment for the NGP is Flight Control by Firemint. What exactly does that mean? The crossover of a casual developer for iOS (and to be fair, virtually every other platform) potentially means that Sony will begin this round of the battle on equal footing with the iOS behemoth. This sort of phone to console crossover among developers, in addition to the PSP's loyal base of fans, certainly gives Sony a fighting chance.
In fact, what I think is the most important news out of the NGP announcement, and what I think gives Sony the greatest advantage over Apple and virtually anyone else, is the list of exclusive titles the NGP will be sporting. I was actually pretty floored when I heard that titles like Uncharted, Littlebigplanet, and Resistance would be coming to the mobile space. I thought for a second how cool that would be, just in general, but then realized that I won't be able to play those games on my iPhone. That realization was in fact the impetus for me to write this article. I find the possibility of a truly competitive, modern, game franchise laden, dedicated gaming console coming to invade our pockets to be an electrifying possibility, one that I would welcome with open arms.
Conclusion
The impact that this ends up having will depend on the details like price of course, but I think it's high time Apple takes notice that its competitive advantage in the mobile gaming space is not exclusive by any means. Factors that gave Apple's mobile gaming presence its start, like its touchscreens, app store and weight in our pocket at all times can and will be replicated by competitors soon enough. I can foresee a device like the NGP poaching some of Apple's potential gamers in the near future, but what Apple really needs to watch out for is the NGP2 which makes calls, comes loaded with vanilla Android 2.5, and boasts specs that will put anything Motorola, HTC, or Apple has ever built to shame. It would be silly to bet against Apple in the mobile space today, I'm sure they have something up their sleeve, but if some sort of stopgap isn't introduced soon, developers and their loyal fans may begin a shift away from our endlessly innovative iPhones towards a more content-rich gaming platform.
Questions
1) When is the real PSP Phone coming? Why hasn't it been announced yet? (I feel that Sony would have announced it alongside the NGP if they knew what they were doing. I'm a little worried that some sort of botchjob Xperia nonsense is going to kill their chance at uniting Android and their loyal PSP fans)
2) What can Apple do to encourage exclusivity among developers similar to Sony's high budget game franchises? (While they already have a great number of exclusive mobile games, most are due simply to the lack of a worthy competitor)
3) Can Apple turn a focus on gaming into anything other than catering to a niche crowd? Is there some greater mobile gaming revolution to be had when all smartphones can play games as graphically intensive as, for example, the Uncharted demo shown at the NGP press conference?
Sources
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/01/playstation-ngp-round-up-price-battery-hardware-and-games.ars
The fate of the mobile gaming world has just been shaken up again by this new salvo from Sony, landing them smack dab in the middle of this growing turf war. As connected devices become more and more omnipresent, the battle for mindshare and dollars is heating up, with Apple especially skyrocketing in popularity over just a short period. While the latest from Nintendo is out in the open and many details of Apple's iPad mkII and iPhone 5 are floating about, what predictions can be made in this rapidly evolving market?
State of the Market
I fall into what I would imagine is a common pattern among this generation of gamers--I started with a GameBoy Color and lived with Nintendo through my youth, playing GBA and DS in all the inappropriate places I could have--then hopped onto the iPhone platform in 2007. What I realized as I downloaded my first game from the App Store, and what we all know now, is that Apple's pervasive iOS ecosystem is a legitimate contender in the handheld gaming space. By approaching their competitors from the MP3 and phone markets, Apple essentially allowed their new platform to tap into a huge wealth of new customers. Developers then flocked to the platform, its huge installed base and instant, centralized distribution system encouraging a whole new regime of mobile gaming.
I believe that in the wake left behind Apple's huge leap forward, there has been a fundamental change in the hardware, and therefore the games, that people WANT in their hands, on the go, all the time. Clearly this trend has affected the design of the NGP--the touchscreen says it all. In a time when even our old friend the Blackberry is catching up by tacking on a touch screen, shouldn't your PSP? Sure, Nintendo got out ahead of that one with the DS, but what does the NGP signal for the market in the years to come?
There is no monopoly on Innovation
From purely a hardware perspective the NGP is highly impressive: the possibility of a quad-core CPU powering a 5" OLED screen right in your hands is going to be leaps and bounds ahead of anything Nintendo or Apple currently have coming. As a company known for building powerful consoles, Sony holds up in that respect. But generally Sony is not known for driving innovation, that's something typically left to Nintendo or Apple. That, most of all, is why I find the specs of the NGP to be so awe inspiring. The sheer geeky joy I get from imagining the games created for this platform just titillates me.
What I mean to address primarily is not the hardware itself but the innovation displayed by finally implementing a rear touch-screen on their device. The ability to include such a technology has been around for years and now Sony has finally embraced the technology--in a huge way, nonetheless. Including it as a feature on their new flagship handheld, in a mobile gaming space where Apple is steadily sucking in consumers and Nintendo remains largely unaffected thanks to their younger audience, shows that Sony has stepped up to the plate and is planning to challenge their newest competitor at their own game. The NGP is more than Sony's entry into the world of touch gaming, what this move represents for Sony is an attempt to change the game itself, moving the battle from the world of hardware innovation, in which Apple has reigned supreme as of late, to a battlefield where Sony has a potential royal flush: developers.
Use what you've got: Developers
Apple has thus far made huge inroads into mobile gaming where others have failed: they have gotten their devices in more pockets than anyone else. The factor that will end up winning the war, though, is not the hardware but the games. Apple's innovative new input methods certainly help, but what has contributed to iOS's gaming success most of all is the revolution in casual gaming. The continued success of games like Angry Birds or Doodle Jump shows developers and consumers alike that Apple has a winning formula, one which others like Microsoft are trying to replicate. For instance, the Windows Phone 7 platform does show promise with its similar caliber of games, even drawing on Microsoft's Xbox developers, but the platform is virtually identical to iOS in most respects--there certainly aren't any WP7 games that couldn't exist on iOS, the hardware is after all very similar. Even the integration of Xbox Live has not made much of a lasting impact for Microsoft. Of course, it's not like anyone plays iPhone games for the social networking (Game Center, I'm looking at you: Get useful please).
In every sense, then, I think the fact that Sony is approaching the NGP from this innovative angle means that it is serious about challenging Apple for consumers' hearts and dollars. An example: nestled among the list of games in devlopment for the NGP is Flight Control by Firemint. What exactly does that mean? The crossover of a casual developer for iOS (and to be fair, virtually every other platform) potentially means that Sony will begin this round of the battle on equal footing with the iOS behemoth. This sort of phone to console crossover among developers, in addition to the PSP's loyal base of fans, certainly gives Sony a fighting chance.
In fact, what I think is the most important news out of the NGP announcement, and what I think gives Sony the greatest advantage over Apple and virtually anyone else, is the list of exclusive titles the NGP will be sporting. I was actually pretty floored when I heard that titles like Uncharted, Littlebigplanet, and Resistance would be coming to the mobile space. I thought for a second how cool that would be, just in general, but then realized that I won't be able to play those games on my iPhone. That realization was in fact the impetus for me to write this article. I find the possibility of a truly competitive, modern, game franchise laden, dedicated gaming console coming to invade our pockets to be an electrifying possibility, one that I would welcome with open arms.
Conclusion
The impact that this ends up having will depend on the details like price of course, but I think it's high time Apple takes notice that its competitive advantage in the mobile gaming space is not exclusive by any means. Factors that gave Apple's mobile gaming presence its start, like its touchscreens, app store and weight in our pocket at all times can and will be replicated by competitors soon enough. I can foresee a device like the NGP poaching some of Apple's potential gamers in the near future, but what Apple really needs to watch out for is the NGP2 which makes calls, comes loaded with vanilla Android 2.5, and boasts specs that will put anything Motorola, HTC, or Apple has ever built to shame. It would be silly to bet against Apple in the mobile space today, I'm sure they have something up their sleeve, but if some sort of stopgap isn't introduced soon, developers and their loyal fans may begin a shift away from our endlessly innovative iPhones towards a more content-rich gaming platform.
Questions
1) When is the real PSP Phone coming? Why hasn't it been announced yet? (I feel that Sony would have announced it alongside the NGP if they knew what they were doing. I'm a little worried that some sort of botchjob Xperia nonsense is going to kill their chance at uniting Android and their loyal PSP fans)
2) What can Apple do to encourage exclusivity among developers similar to Sony's high budget game franchises? (While they already have a great number of exclusive mobile games, most are due simply to the lack of a worthy competitor)
3) Can Apple turn a focus on gaming into anything other than catering to a niche crowd? Is there some greater mobile gaming revolution to be had when all smartphones can play games as graphically intensive as, for example, the Uncharted demo shown at the NGP press conference?
Sources
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/01/playstation-ngp-round-up-price-battery-hardware-and-games.ars
Induco
Welcome!
This blog will be mostly dedicated to cataloging my thoughts on the evolving field of technology, hopefully with in depth articles as often as possible. I am also a significant fan of music and design and will post about my new finds, and maybe some old favorites, as I get around to them.
The name of the blog just comes from the song title of one of my favorite artists. It's exceedingly difficult to find a name that is unique, nowadays. There are no original ideas, after all. Hopefully you will remember this one.
I thought about going back two years from now and looking at my blog archive, and then realized how fascinating it could all be if I just started.
This blog will be mostly dedicated to cataloging my thoughts on the evolving field of technology, hopefully with in depth articles as often as possible. I am also a significant fan of music and design and will post about my new finds, and maybe some old favorites, as I get around to them.
The name of the blog just comes from the song title of one of my favorite artists. It's exceedingly difficult to find a name that is unique, nowadays. There are no original ideas, after all. Hopefully you will remember this one.
I thought about going back two years from now and looking at my blog archive, and then realized how fascinating it could all be if I just started.
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