I must say though, that with how open media is today, and with how open minded judges are becoming, I can’t see this turning into a carrier ran industry.

Check out this blog that expands on how small organizations can capitalize on digital media more fully:

http://textrapolate.com/2008/05/get-digital-get-noticed/

Coming soon: http://zipityzap.com Internet Television

then you have the “hardware providers” (AppleTV, XBox, Sony, et al) who will connect their set top box to anybody’s pipe but then limit you to the services that hardware supports. so very few will depend on one of these alone for everything, and no one has to.

finally you have the “platformers” who offer an all-encompassing free software package (iTunes, Windows Media Center) that can unify and deliver all their monetized services/products to your TV and other gadgets. this is where Apple has a big advantage thanks to iPod, the #1 gadget of this era.

i don’t think any of these options will ever dominate the market, “Control Your Digital Media,” or knock out the others. the market is just too huge. there is lots of room for them all. all us consumers will mix and match several options based on price, content, and convenience – our personal value equations.

technically savvy consumers will have the most fun and get the best deals, but whoever really delivers ‘plug and play for dummies’ will make the most money.

@Curtis, I bet the carriers would love to offer such a service on their LTE or WiMax networks, for a fee, and probably if the content sits on their servers.

I personally would like to avoid the hardward as middleware (read AppleTV, Vudu, cable providers, etc.). A better scenario for me is that Apple, Sony, Samsung, and any of the other major consumer electronics companies plan for a wireless media base station, that is capable of uploading video and audio media to my TV, home stereo, iPod touch, and my iPhone (or any other mp3 capable phone). This way, as a consumer I can maximize choice in content as opposed to maximizing choice in technology. The former is what I prefer to control.

I think this scenario is feasible given the recent 700 mhz auction, the and the eminent wimax network. The company (or companies) that pull this off will certainly be positioned to make a large footprint in digital home entertainment.

Consumers want content and services pushed into their home be it over the air or a cable. There are many companies out there able to do just that. The consumer (and I am not talking tech savvy people like you and I) just wants to pick up a remote and use said service.

In the past the consumer has had a set top box by their TV that is the interface between the provider and the users TV.

But of course the services are becoming richer and multi directional and as such a simple set top box is no longer up for the job. It now needs a keyboard, a mouse, a hard drive and the ability to pull content from multiple providers. Kind of sounds like a PC doesn’t it.

But as you say, the consumer can’t set up a home theatre PC. They can’t even program their VCR (remember them).

So you need an all singing and all dancing set top box that is a bit like a PC but is plug and play. Now this sounds a bit like a Mac doesn’t it?

Of course whilst Apple looks well placed to take the prize here it is not hard to see somebod like Asus or MSI come along and steal it from under their noses. All they need is a hybrid device at a very agressive price point that the consumer loves (like they did with the EeePC) and suddenly a whole new product segment is created.

This statement reminds me of a time when some people thought that the skills to use remote controls for TV, VCR, etc. or using a computer or even the latest cellphone, were the exclusive domain of “freaks and geeks”, and that such skills were not for the average person. Today, the average person controls these gadgets quite easily. The same principle applies to the digital media hubs of the future. I say, give the consumer max freedom and may the gadgets with the best UI design win!