Why Didn’t They Think Of That? Motorola’s Upcoming Set Top Boxes
During Motorola’s humdinger of a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show, the company’s Ed Zander announced they’re working on coming up with set top boxes that have the ability to beam television programming on your cell phone.
Like, that’s sooooo 20 minutes ago. Isn’t that what Sling Mobile is for?
The fact that an upstart company like Sling Media was able to come along and create TV place shifting technology ahead of the gigantic Motorola is amusing to us, and has to be frustrating for Motorola. Why didn’t they think of that? Is it possible that they did think of that, but that the cable companies they work with didn’t want to see it happen?
There is another way of looking at it: It’s a TiVo-type situation. When TiVo came along the cable companies sat back for a while - and then, once TiVo established itself as a desirable product, the cable & satellite TV companies (and cable set top box manufacturers like Motorola) added video recording capabilities to their boxes, and charged hefty monthly rental fees for them.
With an established subscriber base, the cable companies could now come along and package Sling-type place shifting capabilities into their Motorola-made set top boxes and make plenty of money. Who needs to innovate? Easier to wait for technology to prove itself, then make it your own. That strategy has prevented TiVo from being wildly profitable - which is why TiVo has fought so hard in court to protect its patents.
Speaking of which - we noticed that Comcast is going to allow you to download TiVo software to its digital video recorders (made by Motorola) to give you TiVo features, at an undisclosed extra charge. Couldn’t the cable companies come up with a similar licensing deal with Sling for its technology? Or maybe Motorola could just buy Sling and be done with it.
Motorola, Ed Zander, Consumer Electronics Show, place shifting, Sling Media, Sling Box, Sling Mobile, Comcast, TiVo
[via SFGate]
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