A pre-production evaluation of the latest foray into the digital living room from Cisco may have flaws but it represents a response to perceived needs of consumers that demand more simplicity. Expect to see the an array of alternatives that deliver much simpler use case scenarios for a world that is composed of consumers that cut their teeth on VCR’s blinking .
There is a coming proliferation of alternative viewing solutions for the largest screen in the home: the living room flat panel. As the notion of three screens (PC/Mobile/TV) cements into designs and product roadmaps, the wave of sub-$300 devices primarily connected to the home TV (rapidly becoming a glorified monitor actually) will be popping up in greater frequency and with a greater reliance upon software and Internet connected defense against obsolescence.
While communications companies wish to be a part of this, consumers will be drawn to simple solutions. Rapid iterations of hardware solutions is not an area that communications companies are known for. “New every two” may be fine for a mobile phone but it smacks of a throw away mindset and culture that is unsustainable.
TiVo is an example of a company that got “simple” right through rapid iteration. The TiVo approach is heavily weighted to software design principles over hardware design limitations. i.e. once something is connected in a living room you don’t want to have to move to change it.
In the 70′s the digital living room was sending your child to the TV to adjust knobs. In the 80′s the digital living room was a VCR blinking . In the 90′s the digital living room was a DVD player that skipped. As we round out this decade, we want personalized, and socially stratified high definition content that is always connected and as simple as moving a magic wand… or fishing around in our pockets.
Perhaps in the next decade we’ll get just that demand of this decade. For now, we just have to allow for the desktop PC and laptop to become that VCR… that has no place in a modern living room.
