A recent commentary in Forbes echos the blogs I have been writing lately; that is , the interoperability of web, phone, and tv because of technological advances. Dubbed Television 2.0, it relies on consumers taking all their communication services from one provider, "the triple play" and thus simplifying the interactive processes.
So are the cable companies making the necessary investments in their plants, are they contracting with their equipment providers to enable all these wonderful new services, or will the dynamics finally change and the consumer will go to their electronic retailer to buy the devices they want - set top box, remote cameras, dvr, etc - all enabled by a plug and play connection to your cable wire. For the cable company today, the primary rationale for the triple play is ROI, more revenue from the investment of capital in building a fiber backbone by offering more services through it. The interoperability may be nice, but for the operator, the next investment is toward other services that will provide a new revenue stream from this existing backbone: business services, security, file back up protection, etc.
And lastly, is the consumer ready to finally see who they are talking to on the phone - a "video phone", do they want to have their phone calls and voice messages pop up on their tv screens, do they want to pick which stories they want to watch on the news. How much change is the consumer ready for and how much will they embrace. While I believe interactivity will be embraced, consumers still want each of their devices to do what they each do well. TVs to provide an experience where you sit back to watch, PCs to provide an experience where you sit forward and interact, and phones to comunicate - and while each application may crossover, consumers will still prefer them to do their primary function first. So how fast Television 2.0 truly occurs...I say not as fast as web 2.0.
And that's my 2 ¢
