take this and stuff it in your downgrade...........................................
January 5, 1998
Marriage of Computers, Gadgets
Blurs Lines in High-Tech World
Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Phones that let you cruise the Internet. Computers for watching movies and television. Boxes that enable TV viewers to surf the Web and send e-mail.
Such long-heralded devices -- which blur the lines between computer and appliance, information and entertainment -- are finally starting to change people's lives.
But they've also shaped a new battleground between computer and consumer-electronics companies.
The contest will be evident this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the biggest and oldest show devoted to consumer technology. The show, which runs Jan. 8-11, is expected to draw about 90,000 visitors, mostly retailers on the lookout for the next hot products.
On display will be the latest in televisions -- including the first digital TV sets for consumers -- audio equipment, handheld computers, wireless phones, DVD players, digital cameras and other gee-whiz products.
Taking part show will be the usual consumer electronics companies, such as Sony Corp., Philips NV and Zenith Electronics Corp. Equally prominent, however, will be members of the computer industry, including chip maker Intel Corp., software giant Microsoft Corp. and computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc.
"This really is a massive struggle," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Research International, a San Jose, Calif. market research firm. "And the question that is the big one is: Who drives this forward?"
Of course, competition remains fierce between companies within each industry. Just look at the continuing battle among consumer-electronics companies over technical standards for DVD, the digital video disks intended to replace both videotapes and computer compact disks.
But increasingly, the industries' interests overlap as digital technology -- translating sights and sounds into the computer language of zeros and ones -- makes it possible to blend TVs, phones and other consumer wares with computers.
"We are going through the most exciting time. It's evolutionary and revolutionary," said Tom Campbell, spokesman for Dow Stereo-Video Inc., a San Diego-based chain of electronics stores. "It's a relearning of technology."
It's a relearning of business, too. Some consumer powerhouses, including Sony, have entered the personal computer business. Others, like Philips, make high-tech boxes that enable TVs to work like low-cost computers.
Meanwhile, personal computers -- falling in price and gaining in popularity as a way to play games -- themselves have become consumer products, hawked as if they were TVs or stereo components.
Information-technology sellers also are aiming for the hybrid market: Intel is working on technology to meld TV with the Internet, and Microsoft and Sun are pushing their software for a galaxy of consumer devices.
Industry observers describe it as a battle for the living room.
"It's a nascent market that's got such huge potential," said Kevin Hause, an industry analyst with International Data Corp., in Mountain View, Calif. "You have huge players like Sun and Microsoft and you have a lot of little ones in this."
But the consumer electronics and information-technology companies have different strengths and weaknesses as they go after the converging market.
Consumer-electronics companies historically make relatively inexpensive, single-purpose products. While they have lots of expertise in selling to the average person, they haven't had to worry much about compatibility.
The computer-related industry turns out relatively high-cost but versatile machines made according to industry standards. But only recent has the industry tried to make its products mass-market items.
Digital TV -- which promises to be a hot product at CES -- is at the center of one of the biggest conflicts between the two industries.
Some of the nation's broadcasters plan next fall to begin delivering digital broadcasts, which provide better pictures and sound than existing technology. Digital broadcasts also can be watched on computer monitors.
The computer industry has wanted digital TV to be tailored for display on their monitors. Broadcasters, however, wanted PCs to be adapted to receive digital signals.
The consumer-oriented companies got some unexpected support about a month ago, when Intel, the world's biggest chip maker, said it would develop technology letting PCs and other devices work with any kind of digital TV transmission.
But the eventual outcome of that issue and others involving new hybrid products is up to consumers, said Alan McCollough, president of the Circuit City chain of stores.
Will people prefer to surf the Internet and watch their favorite television programs on a PC-type device in their den, or on a TV-like appliance in their living rooms? Will they want to do both?
"What the future holds remains to be seen," McCollough said. "The customer in the end will decide." |
