The Consumer Electronics Show gets underway in Las Vegas later this week, and while new tablets, phones and 3D television sets will grab much of the attention, the biggest development in the television business will be the dramatic surge of internet-connected sets and TV apps.
“TV manufacturers see the opportunity to provide that content built in,” says Jason Oxman, senior vice president of the Consumer Electronics Association. “I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a TV on the show floor that doesn’t have these kind of apps built in.” Adds Samsung’s Eric Anderson, who’s busy building that company’s app presence, “This is going to be the year for the first generation of truly smart TV applications.”
Unlike 3D, which is still a very niche product, many Americans are already comfortable with using apps on their smart phones. As these apps migrate to TV sets — not only apps from TV manufacturers like Samsung, but also established app stores like Apple and Android — content producers will see new distribution opportunities straight to the big screen. Not to mention, it will open up a new universe of social television.
For the record, Apple has yet to make any announcements about adding apps to Apple TV. But Android is expected to extend its apps to Google TV early this year.
We’ll keep you updated as CES gets underway on Wednesday night.