Sony develops 'new kind of television'
Cracking the box
Sony plans to revive its fortunes in the TV market by launching a new type of telly that it hopes will compete with - of all companies - Apple in the future goggle-box marketplace.
So said CEO Sir Howard Stringer, speaking to the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, he didn't detail the new kind of television he has in mind.
But he said: “I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs. It’s finished, and it’s launching now.
"There’s a tremendous amount of R&D going into a different kind of TV set."
The recent Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs quotes the former Apple chief saying earlier this year that he had finally figured out how Apple could do something new with the traditional television set.
That led some observers to conclude Apple is working on a voice control system based on its Siri technology.
Couple that with a recording capacity - "TV, record all the future episodes of The Simpsons" - would be a leap forward from fiddly remote controls and complicated DVR user interfaces.
Apple has never shown any interest in helping punters watch and record broadcast programming. It would rather they bought shows from its iTunes store after transmission.
Sony seems to have a similar notion. Stringer's "platform" ties the TV to the PlayStation, but makes the same PlayStation Network-sourced content available on other devices, from the recently released Tablet S to the upcoming PS Vita and Sony-branded smartphones.
"We can’t continue selling TV sets [the way we do]," said Sir Howard. "Every TV set we all make loses money.” The only way around that: to drive content sales that will cover the cost of the hardware. ®
COMMENTS
New kind of television...
That'd be a TV with something worth watching on it then?
Can't see it catching on.
Dear sony
Re: "fiddly remote controls and complicated DVR user interfaces"
Simple solution - make user friendly remote controls and user interfaces - there's loads of em out there.
Simple TV - monitor with loads of i/o ports.
Sony competing with Steve Jobs?
“I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs."
I thought Sony had spent the last five years digging a hole. Which is kind of appropriate if they still want to compete with Steve Jobs.
The TV has the advantage of knowing exactly what sound is coming out of its speakers, giving it a head-start with noise cancellation. Acoustics of the room may muddy the waters a bit, but probably not too seriously.
Just gimme
A Freeview HD telly with build in disk record, USB socket for external devices, wireless connection to internet/PC/NAS (iPlayer et al of course), internet browser that you can flip easily from TV to for looking stuff up (Finally a use for picture in picture), and a Wii style remote for use as a pointer, plus optional wireless keyboard. Built in webcam(s) and Skype, again PiP. Have a decent amp in there too, so no need for a separate HiFi, DVD/DC player slot. About the only thing I don't want is GPS.
Nothing too technically off the wall, and yet exactly what I want.
