Last night I was talking to my mom. She recently got an ipad and discovered the Netflix app. Because she now streams netflix to her TV with Boxee and to her ipad, she decided to drop HBO from her cable tv package.
Then this morning, i read an interesting article in todays NYT about the number of households with television sets. It’s interesting because the number of households owning a TV is declining.
Nielsen says that there are two reasons for this decline. Poor economic conditions with a larger percentage of the population and younger users want the web more than TV.
via the NYT:
The other is technological wizardry: young people who have grown up with laptops in their hands instead of remote controls are opting not to buy TV sets when they graduate from college or enter the work force, at least not at first. Instead, they are subsisting on a diet of television shows and movies from the Internet.
Todays economic conditions are serious. Many people living in very difficult situations. Yet at the same time, consumers are buying iPhones, Android phones and tablets like crazy.
Consumers are making a choice with their hard earned dollars. They are putting it into devices and services that change our lives and where innovation is happening
And to date, the place for innovation hasn’t been on the big screen.
It’s also interesting to see cable operators innovating outside of their own set top box. For example Time Warner Cable ipad app is getting a fair amount of traction.
The open web is a more productive and enjoyable environment that the closed cable set top box and network. Cable companies are noticing and so is my mom.