TV as Grandpa of Digital Screen Family - Day 1 CES2013

CES2013 has opened. Before the unveiled event, there was the “trends to watch” presentation. Mr. Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist & Senior Director of Research, showed the four points of the trends the year of 2013.

1. The Post-Smartphone Era
2. The Age of Algorithms
3. Contextual Connectivity
4. Changing Flow Storytelling

Here’s what came up with me after participating on his presentation.

TV is not King

The consumer electronics industry has struggled. Consumers want to have tablets or smartphones to enjoy games, videos and communications. Watching movies is no longer the only home entertainment. They want to touch screens and be interactive.

Providing high-resolution video for the couch-potatoes people is not enough to meet these consumer’s demands. The concept of the home theater, bringing the high quality video service at home will not matter for them.
TV is not the king but will become the one of the digital screen family.

TV manufactures have to re-design the marketing strategies.
First, there will be no incremental revenue from one user. The number of devices owned by one user might decrease.

A digital screen gives users the multitasking experiences. It could be a book reader, a camera, even memo for handwriting. Users don’t need the screen for specific purposes. They own one screen and enjoy several entertainments on demand.

Second, the digital equipment market has been tough. Not only Chinese manufactures but also IT giants such as Google and Amazon now sell their own digital devices.

The TV market is the oligopoly where six big brands have kept the market share of sixty percent at least the last five years. Tablets or smartphones market, however, have lots of new comers every year. The digital screen has already been commoditized.

So, the echo system of screen manufacturing business has changed. The high volume share of units shipped in the market does not increase the revenue. The mass marketing and production system does not work any more. Consumers buy cheap devices and customize with apps they downloaded.

These things discussed above are not new if you follow the mobile or internet business. But, it is new that the apps economy has come in the screen business.

• 2013 International CES