Yahoo Unveils New Service: Web TV
Posted on: Monday, 12 January 2009, 08:19 CST
Yahoo is hoping its attempt to converge the online and TV world will be a success.
The company’s Web TV offering will be free of charge and centered on small Internet applications called “widgets.”
Yahoo made a conscious effort to provide a limited offering of the Internet through widgets, excluding items that would involve typing, like web searches.
The question remains as to whether consumers will find the limited service useful.
Yahoo plans to profit from advertising on Web TV, but plans to release the new service carefully.
"We want users to fall in love with the service before we bombard them with ads," said Patrick Barry of Connected TV at Yahoo.
According to Barry, the service was designed to emphasize the Internet experience, but not overshadow TV content. Users will be able to perform normal online activities like streaming videos, checking news, and sharing photos.
The service was formally unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.
Yahoo used the show to convince many companies, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Sony to include the service in their future products.
According to Yahoo, the service will be included in TVs shipped to 10 European countries and to North America.
The service began as a joint venture last summer between Yahoo and Intel, but Intel’s CE 3100 chip only found its way into Internet devices from Samsung and Toshiba.
According to Wilfred Martis, Intel’s digital home group director, the partnerships announced at CES are only the start.
"This is the beginning of this huge sea change in the consumer electronics space ... There have been a lot of false starts in this industry but I think we now have critical mass between content providers, service providers, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), silicon providers. Everybody is working together," Martis added.
The most intriguing aspect of Yahoo’s Web TV is that it will be an open platform, allowing third-party developers to create widgets for download.
Yahoo released a developer’s kit on Wednesday for the new service.
According to Barry, new widgets will be approved by Yahoo and the TV manufacturers will decide whether or not to offer the application. Yahoo did not say what percentage the company would take for fee-based applications.
They would not comment as to whether they would block widgets that could contain objectionable material.
Barry said the company is currently working to formulate a content policy, and added that the new service would feature administrative controls to enable parents to block questionable content.
Image Courtesy UPI
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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