IDF Day 2: Eric Kim: "We Love TV"
IDF Day 2: Eric Kim: "We Love TV"
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- Question #1: What percentage of 2008 Superbowl viewers used a notebook or cellphone to surf the Internet while watching the game?
- Question #2: How many viewers cast votes in this year's American Idol finale?
- Question #3: How many buttons were on the first wireless [TV] remote?
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The point Kim was trying to make was that TV is "social and personal." Kim also posits that there are three lessons to be learned from what people expect from their TVs:
- TV users want rich experiences
- TV watching is a social experience
- TV has to be simple (it informs and entertains)
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Patrick Barry, Vice President, Connected TV for Yahoo! came out onto the stage to join Kim to talk about the new Widget Channel. Kim and Barry suggested that users are looking for the next upgrade after flat panels and HD. They said that this next upgrade will be in the form of delivering the Internet to television--improving the richness of the TV experience. They also suggested that users want a simple experience--one that will work within the confines of the remote control experience. With the click of a single button on a remote, the Widget Dock opens on the bottom of the TV screen. Additional content can be extended into a sidebar.
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Kim and Barry said that Widget Channel offers a seamless integration of the TV and the Internet. The user never needs to leave the TV environment to interact with connected content. Some of the Widgets they showed were for weather, news, stocks, and sports. They anticipate that thousands of third party vendors will develop Widgets for the platform--especially since developing apps for this platform is not that different that from the Windows-based Yahoo Widgets. Some of the partners on the platform include media-streaming sources, such as Blockbuster and CinemaNow, where users can rent or purchase streaming movies.
