Online Video Industry Forecast 2012: Sorenson Media
[This sponsored article appears in the December 2011/January 2012 issue of Streaming Media magazine.]
My predictions for a Video World in 2012:
(1) TV Reinvented. I have always expected Apple to release an all-in-one flat screen TV - that will happen in 2012. Think of a large-screen beautiful iPad on your wall - called "iTV" in order to distance itself from Apple's current Apple TV "hobby." Apple will re-think the living room experience to be, well, more of an "experience" (rather than a "dumb" TV) by seamlessly marrying beautiful hardware with services -- much as Apple was able to do with iPod/iTunes. Apple's goal is to sell more hardware - using services as the Trojan Horse.
(2) Tablets on Fire. Apple's iPad will continue to be the #1 tablet, but Amazon's Kindle Fire will be closing in ... fast; and, "Amazon Prime" will begin to significantly challenge Netflix, as more of us begin to watch premium video content on portable devices. Amazon's strategy is completely reverse from Apple's - hardware is used as the Trojan Horse to sell more goods and services.
(3) Battle for Your Living Room. Google will continue its massive push - and billions of dollars in investment - into the "TV" world. Unlike Apple and Amazon, for Google, it's all about advertising -- and premium video and the living room are its next great frontier. Expect it to compete directly with cable companies. Amid these battling behemoths, smaller players like Roku will either be swallowed up (or simply disappear).
(4) Personal Video Breakthrough. But, it's more than just premium video. As a result of massive growth of smart phones with easy HD video capture, your "personal video" -- intimate family and friend video memories that you do not wish to share on YouTube - will be, for the first time, easily archived, managed, shared and played back on any device (and in your living room).
(5) HD Video-Enabling Ecosystem Growth Explodes. Accordingly, the demand for HD video-enabling services will grow exponentially - and video workflows will move at scale into the Cloud, beginning to seriously challenge legacy hardware providers.
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