The Diffusion Group (TDG) has projected the appeal for widget-enabled TVs and video systems far higher than present estimates. The company claims that newly obtained data has suggested that customer expectations for widget-based applications will soon overshadow the basic "information push" apps featured on the first wave of widget-enabled TVs and video platforms.

 

TDG claims that it’s an intelligence pacesetter focused on the digital video ecosystem, offering market planning and research services to keep its clients In Front of the Curve.

 

Service providers and OEMs have long recognized the value of some sort of integration between internet and TV and a number of them have already started to roll out new technology that enables TVs to connect to the Internet through "widgets," bits of software that provided elements of web based content.

 

"TDG strongly believes that the introduction of widget-based apps into the TV environment will be the tipping point for Internet-enabled TV," noted Michael Greeson, president of TDG. In support of this argument, TDG points to data collected during a January 2009 survey of adult broadband users in the U.S. which quantified an unusually high value perception of TV-based widgets.

 

According to the company, internet TV is being viewed negatively, even though the widget-enabled TV promised a simpler, more customized experience than its forerunner, Web TV. Web TV enabled users to have full-on web browsing via televisions – but as it transpired, viewers did not want the entire internet experience transferred to their TVs. But widget-enabled internet TV offers viewers a single big button on the remote control to go online, and widgets at the bottom of the screen — such as news, weather, finance or eBay (News - Alert).

 

Greeson also noted that the complexities faced by early technologies in combining internet and TV was the complexity of the interface; in most cases, it was browser-based and URL-dependent. The problems of Web TV were similar to early mobile web efforts. But the difficulties encountered by mobile web were overcome when Apple (News - Alert) came along with the idea to use widgets as graphical references for their mobile interface.

 

TDG states that after the introduction of the iPhone (News - Alert) and its widget-based interface, mobile web usage increased, hardware vendors moved to similar designs, and consumers began to think differently about the value of Internet connectivity on mobile devices. The same phenomenon will take place once widgets hit the TV.

 

The advantage of Internet TV over generic technologies like IPTV is Internet TV makes use of the global internet to deliver services while IPTV (News - Alert) is delivered over a private managed network.

 

TDG advises OEMs and service providers to fine tune their platforms so that they are able to accommodate evolving technologies. The company expects TV-based widgets like the iPhones to expand rapidly and in many cases outstrip the ability of low-end hardware to support these applications.

 

Greeson noted that firmware upgrades won't matter because the hardware is what defines the headroom and sets the ceiling. “Future proofing Internet-enabled video platforms is critical -- OEMs and operators must think beyond supporting the first round of applications and consider what will comes next, because 'next' will be here within months not years,” he added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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