For some people that box of light in the corner of room or hanging on the wall watches them more than they watch it. Why? It does some things, but not everything.

The clamshell device that has the internet inside it has much better entertainment options.
It has music, the internet, film, photography and even a phone (for guys there’s also porn, and for girls clothes shopping).

Then there’s the handheld device that has a little bit of everything – internet, phone, alarm clock etc etc, and it is never more than an arm’s length away.

What the tech world has struggled to understand is;

How do people manage to navigate their way between all these devices?
&
How do we get them to buy ours and not the next guy’s?

Simple.
Take a closer look at how we’re living and using televisions.

Let’s look at some contributory factors!

• Television advertising revenues are down as much as 20% in some countries.
  Why?
  It could be that less people watch television and therefore don’t respond to the advertising. It is not the only compelling way f0r a brand communicate to a target audience anymore (sorry ad agencies!)

• The impact of social media aka Myspace-to-Facebook-to-Twitter. In a recent CNet article “Is Social Media Better Than Sex?”, it’s clear that the impact of Facebook is impacting on the world of the televison!
  “Among social-media users, almost half say they check Facebook and/or Twitter from bed at night and/or as soon as they wake up in the morning, with 16 percent of users saying these sites are, in fact, how they get their news for the day.”

• With Hulu and every other legitimate streaming television options and the slightly less well known options vis Ustream and Veetle (if you don’t know – get to know), watching TV anywhere in the world without the usual restrictions are a thing of the past.

• Brands like Apple sell a lifestyle so well that it helps make the traditional relationship with your televison pretty obselete – even with Apple TV. The marketing of the iPad is spot on in understanding that people will sit on their couch and use the device….taking concentration away from television perhaps? Too late – it’s been happening for years and realised the threat to television until it started affecting advertising revenues!

The only thing that has saved the television? Computer games consoles and this;

• The digital world rules! Unless you have TiVo or Sky+ or Slingbox – you’re tied to when the Programming Directors of every TV station want you to watch something. Not an appealing prospect. You want to watch it when it’s convenient for you…not when someone else decides. Have you tried googeling torrents for your favorite show lately???

Now, let’s be a little biased here and state that we think the current strategy of 3D televison – is a hugely bad idea and it’s fooling noone. 4 years ago we were sold on the benefits of HDTV (it was like going from cassette to CD!), but 3D programming? The World Cup in 3D? Nah!

This (below) has some merits – because it is closer to how people are currently living and using their technology.

This week Google has announced plans to have Sony TVs and set top boxes with the Google TV platform built in, making the internet part of the TV experience as important as actually watching TV.

It’s a great lifeline for Sony and their TV department, the brand will use the Google partnership to differentiate their brand from the competitors - smart move!

Interesting. It feels like the TV might finally fight back! The battle for your living room will be getting hotter! Except….

This all sounds like something we heard before…

…and this is two years old!

“Just because media shifting is totally last year doesn’t mean D-Link’s MediaLounge PC-on-TV DPG-1200 isn’t welcome, even if that model number is a bit of a mouthful. The product can ship YouTube, Google Video, Veoh content and plenty more that the internet has to offer over a wired or wireless connection to your regular ol’ TV. There’s no special player involved, the product just mirrors your PC display, so virtually anything you can see on you PC you can see on your TV, including all sorts of media and even DVDs. The remote includes a trackball for controlling your PC remotely, and the 1280 x 720 resolution and 30 frames per second should offer enough fidelity to keep up with the action. No word on price or availability yet, but we should be finding out more next week when PC-on-TV hits CES.”

Or how about the people with an extra PC or Mac constantly linked with the TV, i know families that use that solution so YouTube is close at hand with cartoons, music and so on.

For this Sony/Google adventure to be even remotely interesting, it has to bring something new. Right now it sounds like it won’t!

BANDIT