Set top boxes may go smart?


Encouraging signs if true
Here's an example of why greed and competition work to give the customer a better product.

But perhaps it’s time to examine the cable industry’s lease model. Is having all of those logo-branded boxes on the balance sheet worth the pittance consumers pay to rent them? Is it worth dooming customers to a clunky experience when a third-party box could do the job better? Heck, gaming consoles, DVD players and other CE devices could simply double as cable set-tops if the cable industry could just finally… let go. All of this was supposed to happen years ago, by the way, with set-tops proliferating at retail. But it never came to pass for a variety of reasons. And now competition is fierce, online video is the boogeyman and gee… wouldn’t it be nice if all those advanced boxes were out there right now?  

Recent signs suggest cable operators are starting to get it. They know they need to change. At the Cable Show, for example, Comcast’s Brian Roberts showed off Starz’s new EBIF application (very similar to Time Warner Cable’s Start Over feature) on the show floor. Other execs trumpeted the potential of EBIF and tru2way to free up previously closed off silos in the cable infrastructure—all in the interest of giving consumers more flexibility (so they don’t “cut the cord” and get all their content from other sources). Many continue to believe that 2009 could be the year when the cable industry finally starts unclenching its hand from the box—albeit very gradually and with an abundance of caution.

Perhaps cable should take a cue from Apple, which is famously restrictive when it comes to its devices and software—especially its mega-successful iPhone. Yet, the App Store has cultivated one of the most open and eclectic software bazaars in history, making it easy to purchase applications that do everything from find nearby restaurants to tune musical instruments to organize expense accounts. Imagine what kind of world such an App Store could create for cable? And Apple has proven that giving third parties the ability to innovate doesn’t mean sacrificing all control over the hardware or software. Furthermore, the iPhone shows what a bit of “letting go” can do for the bottom line of the infrastructure owners: AT&T Wireless was floundering, so it agreed to a raft of unusual concessions to Apple to get exclusivity over the iPhone, including forgoing the AT&T logo on the device and letting Apple dictate all the manufacturing specs and software. AT&T has nothing to do with that wonderful app store either. Has this lack of control put AT&T into a death spiral of despair? Quite the opposite: AT&T is the envy of Verizon, which has been making overtures to Apple lately in an attempt to match its rival’s accommodating stance. What if Apple exclusively built an “iSetTop” for the cable industry under similar restrictions? Would it be the end of the world or a new competitive superweapon?

As long as government stays off the playing field, over time competition means better, cheaper, and faster products.

Hat tip Gizmodo.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - May 14, 2009 at 07:28 AM  Tag


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