Intense competition between internet firms, TV makers
November 24, 2013 Leave a comment
Intense competition between internet firms, TV makers
Staff Reporter
2013-11-20
Following on from the success of personal computers, mobile phones and tablet computers, the smart television market is now a major battlefield between internet companies and traditional television manufacturers. Statistics show that the number of TV viewers who spent at least two hours per day watching TV has dropped by 2% per year, and the majority of TV viewers are aged over 40, according to the Chinese-language Global Entrepreneur magazine.Traditional TV manufacturers will be eliminated from the market if they fail to integrate the internet into their products in order to attract new customers.
Internet firms have already established a group of users with personal computers and mobile phones, but now, they hope to apply the functions that are typically used on computers and phones to televisions.
However, it is no easy task to attract viewers from the younger generation.
Gong Yu, chief executive officer of Iqiyi, one of China’s largest online video platforms, noted that user experience, content, cloud computing capability and production of smart TVs currently on the market have not met public expectations.
In addition to the traditional TV viewing experience, smart TVs allow users to watch videos on the internet, replay TV programs, play games and shop online.
Traditional TV makers and internet companies set out with different concerns when manufacturing smart TVs. Traditional TV makers produce televisions from the perspective of their industry. They consider the specs of the televisions they want to produce to be their main concern.
For internet firms, on the other hand, more focus is placed on user experience. Their advantage is their ability to improve on their systems and their understanding of the needs of users.
The best smart TVs give users an outstanding experience, and innovation should be focused on the experience of “watching TV,” according to Wang Chuan, co-founder of Xiaomi, best known for its budget smartphone range.
User experience is not only decided by the operating system; content providers are also critical in managing the supply chain for smart TVs.
Collaboration between content providers and smart TV manufacturers is also crucial. Xiaomi TV partnered with China Network Television, while Alibaba’s Coocaa TV worked hand in hand with Iqiyi and Youku, and TCL also worked with Iqiyi.
The competition is not as simple as that between traditional TV manufacturers or among internet companies. Instead, there is competition in forming collaborations with suppliers in the production chain, such as hardware manufacturers and application developers.
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