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The coming together of disparate
technologies, such as internet services, television and other forms of
entertainment. nearly everyone knows how to work a television set, but
pcs are much harder for them to master. this has been the push behind
initiatives aimed at making the television a central source of digital
information, whether it be e-mail, the web, satellite and cable
television, video-on demand or video games.
However, associated with merging these technologies there are a variety of
issues to be considered. For one thing, television-watching is a largely
passive activity, whereas playing games demands interaction. Design, in
terms of what people see and react to, is crucial, but more crucial these
days is access to high-speed cable, satellite or other digital networks
necessary to use the internet effectively.
Throughout the world, there has been little enthusiasm for
interactive services that link the internet with the TV. This is a blow to
those keen on interactive advertising and advanced services such as
video-on-demand. Many analysts now agree that the most likely future for
interactive television services involves either betting or voting. The
biggest noise in the convergence world is now being made by supporters of
high-speed wireless technologies such as umts who say that the
biggest consumers of combined, interactive media services will be owners of
pdas and other smart devices such as next-generation mobile phones. A
2002 survey by the umts Forum estimated that the global market for
these services would reach $320 billion by 2010. |
