MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Will you be watching TV on
your PC in the future? The growing interactivity of computers and
televisions, in combination with the development of the Internet and higher
bandwidth connections, is setting the stage for impressive growth in the PC/TV
convergence product markets.
According to new strategic research from Frost & Sullivan (www.frost.com),
U.S. PC/TV Convergence Product Markets, the PC/TV convergence products
market
is an emerging market in the United States as well as in other countries. The
U.S. market for PC/TV convergence products generated $89 million in 1996,
which was an increase of 109 percent over the previous year. The market is
forecasted to grow at a healthy tempo, reaching a rate of 74 percent in 1998.
Currently, the market is divided into four segments, providing a multitude
of opportunities for market participants. The four market segments are:
PC/TV systems, scan converters, TV tuner cards, and set-top boxes.
"The market for set-top boxes is forecasted to have the highest expansion
with a compound annual growth rate of 71 percent," says Information
Technology
Analyst Rufus Connnell. "Positioned as a consumer appliance connected to a
television and a telephone line, set-top boxes can exploit the installed base
of televisions in nearly 100 million households. The challenge for this
industry is to provide Internet access and e-mail facilities at a reasonable
price."
The U.S. market for PC/TV convergent products is relatively new. While
two devices, the scan converters and the TV tuner cards, have been on the
market since the early 1990s, large screen PC/TV systems and set-top boxes
were introduced only in the latter half of 1996, thus creating tremendous
opportunities for companies with an eye toward the future of this promising
market.
"The market for scan converters and TV tuner cards is highly competitive
and characterized by price wars. Currently, FOCUS ENHANCEMENTS has the
largest market share in scan converters," says Information Technology Industry
Analyst Abha Garg. "They achieved a leading position in the market with the
acquisition of TView. Other prominent market participants include AVerMedia,
AITech, and Antec."
"The presence of established companies such as Sony and Philips in the
set-top box market, and Gateway2000 and Compaq in the PC/TV systems market,
has created barriers for entry into the marketplace. Consequently, the market
share of smaller companies such as NETTV and ELLiCorp is very low in
comparison," says Connell.
"In the set-top box market, brand recognition of established companies has
led to licensing agreements and alliances between the consumer appliance
manufacturers and the designers of set-top boxes," says Garg. The designers
of set-top boxes include WebTV, Sun Microsystems Consumer Technology
Group
(formerly Diba), Coollogic, Teknema, and Zilog."
This market is characterized by four very different technologies applied
toward a common functional goal: providing users with personal computer and
television attributes in the same appliance. The various approaches that are
currently being used to penetrate this market are examples of the many market
opportunities available to market participants who are well-educated in
customs, trends, rules, and standards of the current U.S. PC/TV Convergence
Product Markets.
The technologies reviewed include personal computer, television, Internet,
usenet, e-mail, scan converter, national television standards committee
(NTSC), video card, video graphics adapter (VGA), super VGA, cable modems, x2,
K56flex, intercast, asynchronous digital subscriber line (ADSL), cathode ray
tube (CRT), central processing unit (CPU), digital subscriber line (DSL),
digital video disk (DVD), electronic mail (E-Mail), hypertext mark-up language
(HTML), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), integrated circuit (IC),
integrated services digital network (ISDN), Internet service provider (ISP),
liquid crystal display (LCD), national television standards committee (NTSC),
phase alternating line (PAL), random access memory (RAM), reduced instruction
set computing (RISC), read only memory (ROM), sequential and memory (SECAM),
super video graphics array (SVGA), uniform resource locators (URL), vertical
blanking interval (VBI), video graphics array (VGA), world wide web (WWW), set
top box, network computer, Internet appliance, Internet access devices, Thin
Client, Java, and XC.
Market participants include: AITech International, Antec, Inc., AVerMedia
Technologies, Inc., Bandai Digital Entertainment, Core Dynamics Corporation,
Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., Digital Vision, Inc., ELLiCorp, Focus
Enhancements, Inc., Gateway 2000, Inc., Good Systems, Inc., Hauppage Computer
Works, Inc., ixMICRO, Logicode Technology, Inc., Pinnacle Systems, NetTV,
Inc., Philips Consumer Electronics Company, Sega of America, Inc., Sony
Electronics, Inc., STB Systems, Inc., Toshiba America, Information Systems,
Inc., TV One, UMAX Technologies, Inc., Boca Research, Inc., Communication
Specialities, Inc./Math Associates, Compaq Computer Corporation, Coollogic,
Inc., Curtis Mathes Holding Corporation, Extron Electronics, Mitsubishi
Consumer Electronics., Mobius Trading Group, Inc., PC Video Conversion
Corporation, Raytheon Electronic Systems, RGB Spectrum, Sun Microsystems
Consumer Technology Group , Teknema, Inc., V.A.S. Group, Inc., WebTV
Networks,
Inc., Zenith Electronics Corporation, and Zilog, Inc.
This Information Technology Industry research has integrated the Market
Engineering consulting philosophy into the entire research process. Critical
phases of this research included: identification of industry challenges,
market engineering measurements, strategic recommendations, planning and
market monitoring. All of the vital elements of this system help the market
participants navigate successfully through the information technology market.
Frost & Sullivan is an international marketing consulting company that
monitors the information technology industry for market trends, market
measurements, and strategies. This ongoing research is utilized to update a
series of research publications such as #5390-72 U.S. Desktop Computer Monitor
Markets and to support industry participants with customized consulting needs.
Visit Frost & Sullivan's web site at: frost.com
Report: 5689-72 Publication Date: November 1997 Price: $2950
SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
/NOTE TO EDITORS: Free executive summaries of all Frost & Sullivan
reports are available to the press./
/CONTACT: Kimberly Barney of Frost & Sullivan, 650-237-4383, or fax,
650-903-0915, or kbarney@frost.com/
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