SRI DTV Study..
There are some valid points in the study including the following:
"One implication for consumer-electronics companies is that they will have to take a components approach to design and marketing rather than trying to integrate rapidly changing technologies directly into the TV set. In addition, successful consumer-electronics firms increasingly will partner with/invest in content and service providers in order to benefit from such services' success."
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The components approach will be the primary model for the living room, main TV while the all-in-one unit will be the primary model for the bedroom/kitchen/office, secondary TVs. Zenith calls the living room model its "Home Entertainment" category and the secondary TVs its "Life Style" category.
My read is that Zenith agrees with the SRI componet approach for its "Home Theater" category and will offer a digital set-top box and 64" wide-sized, projection screen as its first HDTV model, initially priced at about $6,000. The set-top box will allow for a wide variety of optional connecting services including: cable modems, satellite receivers, amplifiers, speakers, Divx, DVD, Laserdisk, digital VHS, digital game players, etc.
The "Life Style" category will be for smaller TVs not requiring full HDTV 1080 interlaced output. These will be all-in-one units in the $500 to $2500 price range. A plasma screen will be used for some of the smaller/designer models.
Also agree that the most successful CE companies will partner with content and service providers. Zenith's Divx partnership with Circuit City is a noteworthy "best of breed" example. Other examples include 21st Century in Chicago, Americast, Divi-Com and the Latin America satellite company. |
