3D TV fails to excite, gesture UIs to flop: analyst
Apple, Sony, to pounce as connectivity craze catches
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3D television is not exciting global TV buyers, says analyst firm NPD.
While the firm notes that 3D now pops up in nearly 20% of global TV purchases for devices larger than 40 inches, Director of Industry Analysis Ben Arnold says “3D TV sales growth thus far has been more a function of the feature’s attachment to bigger screens than true demand for the technology.” Sixty eight percent of punters, he adds, think 3D is just “nice to have”.
Arnold also says 80% of punters, on NPD’s numbers, feel “wearing glasses is a hindrance to their adoption of 3D” and offers his point of view that for “new features to become ‘must haves’ for prospective TV buyers, they must enhance, rather than detract from the viewing experience.”
One new TV feature that does have that potential, he suggests, is connectivity.
“Sales of connected TVs are increasing (nearly 50 percent year-over-year unit growth in 2011) and connectivity is beginning to weigh into TV purchase decisions (NPD’s Consumer Tracker reports Internet connectivity was cited as an important factor in approximately one-in-five TV purchases last year),” Arnold writes. “The technology also has the benefit of timing, hitting the market as viewing habits shift online, content options offered by streaming services expand, and broadband adoption grows nationwide.”
A certain fruity company, he adds, may therefore be poised to cash in.
“Companies like Apple and Sony, owners of hardware and content assets, are best positioned to grow share in this market,” Arnold writes. “Though Apple has yet to announce plans for television, one-in-three U.S. households owns an Apple device (a large portion of these owners are likely using iTunes) making for a potentially huge installed base of content purchasers.”
But Arnold also pours cold water on any voice or gesture driven method for controlling the telly.
“I wonder how practical these technologies will be for everyday tasks like setting the DVR or navigating a channel guide,” Arnold asks, before noting that sales of high-end remote controls are tanking and suggesting that the smartphone may become One Remote To Rule Them All, as apps offer the chance to “allow users to easily (and affordably) control multiple devices with a single piece of software.” ®
COMMENTS
We've become innured.
People don't want stereoscopic TV. They want HOLOGRAPHIC TV. They want the kind of 3D TV you used to see in The Jetsons: where it took up space and can be looked upon from almost any angle. This kind of TV was inherently autostereoscopic and allowed the real wow factor of different points of view (much like how some 3D games let you reposition the camera in various ways).
Re: Of course
Not everyone can see in 3D, the glasses are a pain and having to sit directly in front of the screen to benefit won't work in my house. My wife has prime position from her perch on the sofa, I have to suffer a 50 degree offset from where I sit.
I just want to slump down and watch a bit of telly, not hunt round for a pair of plastic specs an have them digging in my ears for a few moments of 'ooh look at that' and then realise the content of the program is crap.
In the cinema, yes, but in my house definately not.
I hate to say I told you so...
wait, no I don't.
See the marvel of the century! Gasp in amazement as the special effects leap out of the screen! Marvel as the once-every-twenty-years fad disappears in smoke, just as it has every twenty years or so since 1850... the Victorians had steam-punk moving stereoscopic images and it hasn't got much better since.
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