+44 (0)20 7378 2263
"Thoughts" are comments and shared musings from the tmg team; if you would like to discuss any topics please let us know
Back in December 2006, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, announced that Cisco was going to roll out its next-generation video conferencing technology. The big deal was that the new technology and big bandwidth would allow people to communicate over time zones as though they were in the same room.
Well, part of the big deal was that millions would be saved in travel time and cost: no more flights across the pond for that crucial face to face meeting, when the face can now speak to you with pin sharp visual and audio clarity on a monitor. Known as ‘teleprescence', this emerging technology is something that is really a revival of what's out there already, made more attractive by high speed high volume networks. So if Cisco is beginning to build up its networks, what could be the other consumer and business spin-offs for IP TV transmission?
As download times become instantaneous you can do more things in that instant; the interactive opportunities increase. Gaming can become ever more immersive, filmic and collaborative. The flip-side is in real-life. Families in the UK and Australia could have breakfast and dinner together as Face Book becomes from ‘face-to-face' book.
Interfaces will cease to follow the limited ‘page-to-page' metaphor of current sites, but will instead become more scene and scenario-based, borrowing more from the dynamics of film, theatre and gaming, and responding with nuances reacting to users' actions and preferences. The rapid interplay of data to and from the servers will allow just such preference moulding and reactivity.
The TV won't be quite the same as it is now. Apple TV is a clue to direction. You download a copy of a film to view on demand or save and ‘own' just like a song on iTunes. Your BBC iPlayer will be the BBC. Google will be a TV channel.
Nor will the high street be the same. Already we see DVD rental shops in decline. But what will happen to other stores that sell objects that one can scrutinise visually, spin and rotate, zoom in and out, change lighting direction or mood all with macro detail on-screen?
Maybe as the high street follows the corner shop into history and the living room moves into the TV, we will begin to see more out-of-town superstores specially made for those who need a ‘touch and feel' would have to go for tactile sensory validation before they buy online.
Published on: Sep 15, 2009 by Philip Brook