[IP] Is TiVo NeXT?
Begin forwarded message:
From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 13, 2004 10:43:53 PM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Subject: Is TiVo NeXT?
Is TiVo NeXT?
The beleaguered personal video recorder company is ripe for an
Apple takeover.
By John Battelle
April 08, 2003
Everyone who has TiVo (TIVO) loves TiVo; it is to television what
Macintosh was to computing -- a revelation. Which is exactly why
Apple (AAPL) should buy TiVo and once again redefine the intersection
of culture and technology.
Folks love TiVo for the same reason they loved the Mac in 1984 and
the iPod in 2001: It gives control back to the end user. TiVo viewers
call the shots regarding when, how, and -- soon -- even where they
watch. Once content or access is purchased, the end user is in
charge, just like with the iPod.
But unlike the iPod, TiVo and systems like it are in serious trouble.
The culprit is the entertainment industry. TiVo has an abeyant
Napster-like quality -- and the content business is scared silly that
it will not only destroy advertising revenues but become the platform
for video swapping on the Internet. Case in point: A coalition of
entertainment companies recently sued TiVo competitor Sonicblue into
bankruptcy.
TiVo's own undoing may come in the form of a recently reported cable
service. AOL Time Warner (AOL) (the parent company of this magazine)
has realized that its control-based business model will be in
jeopardy should TiVo succeed. So last May it neutered its
relationship with TiVo (in 2000 it announced plans to invest as much
as $200 million with the intent of distributing the services through
the now-defunct AOLTV), and it's now focusing instead on a service
currently called Mystro TV. Unlike TiVo, which is an intelligent
"node" on the edge of the television network, Mystro would be
embedded in AOLTW's servers, much like pay-per-view. While it would
give viewers some TiVo-like features (pause and rewind, for example),
Mystro TV decides which programs can be recorded and whether ads can
be skipped. And it requires no storage device, thereby exorcising the
ghost of Napster. Comcast (CMCSK), the largest cable provider (Time
Warner Cable is the second-largest), has rolled out a similar service.
Mystro is a crippled model, one that in the long run could fail for
any number of reasons. (Here are two: Since TiVo knows so much about
you, it's a marketer's paradise. And the technology Mystro employs
may not scale.) But in the near term, Mystro could strangle TiVo
before it can hit critical mass. If customers know they can buy, with
a click of the remote, what seems like a similar service for $5 a
month, it's unlikely that they'll shell out $299 for a box that's
difficult to set up and may be moribund within the year.
...
http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,515587,00.html
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