Home entertainment networks with one or more connected consumer electronics devices will be in 30 million US households by 2010, creating new business opportunities, according to a research report.
Connected entertainment will be at the heart of the development and business opportunities in the digital home, concludes the report from Parks Associates.
In the near term, video service providers and consumer electronics and home networking manufacturers are driving this space with the deployment of whole-house digital video recorders and digital media adapters. However, the report says there will need to be cross-industry collaboration, such as the Digital Living Network Alliance initiative, to realize fully the opportunities in connected entertainment.
“Broadband proliferation is a fundamental driver of connected entertainment opportunities inside the home,” said Harry Wang, research analyst at Parks Associates. “More importantly, better network configuration tools and easy-to-navigate user interfaces will assuage consumers’ concerns about setup difficulties or application glitches.”
“Consumer electronics manufacturers are still searching for the Rosetta stone of the connected entertainment market,” he said, suggesting the need for better interoperability between devices. “To move beyond the early-adopter stage, they must ally with content and service providers, software developers, and silicon designers to build elegance and usability into the product design and bring popular digital content to consumers’ fingertips anywhere in the home.”
Networks in the Home: Connected Consumer Electronics is published by Parks Associates. Together with the Consumer Electronics Association, the company is organising the Connections Europe conference in Berlin in November.