“To Connect to the Internet, Just Turn on Your TV”

Published: January 11, 2009  

If there was one overarching theme from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, it was that absolutely every device in our lives is becoming a computer connected to the Internet.  Below are quotes and comments from executives of the major vendors who displayed their current and future planned product lines at the huge yearly convention.  

"TV is interactive TV these days. You will use the same TV and the same remote control, but have completely different functionality," said Jong Woo Park, President of Samsung's digital media business.  

Laura Rauch/European Pressphoto Agency "You ought to expect that to be more and more unified - three screens: TV, phone, PC - one cloud-based experience," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft.  

New televisions from LG, Samsung and others will let viewers watch movies from Netflix and other Internet sites.  

In two years, 90 percent of all Sony products will connect to the Internet, Howard Stringer, the chief executive of Sony, predicted.  

But the more established brands know the battleground is shifting. Increasingly what will differentiate one TV from another is the software it runs and the Internet services it connects to.  

Another approach is to try to embed computer chips with Internet connections, all of which keep getting cheaper and smaller, into ever more unusual devices. Sony introduced an Internet-connected alarm clock that will wake you up with your favorite music videos and traffic forecasts for your commute.  

Asustek, the giant Taiwanese electronics company, has developed a touch-screen computer that hangs on a wall. It also has built a PC into a keyboard that lets users surf the Net on their TVs . In the future, according to Jonney Shih, the chairman of Asustek, everything in your house, even your bedroom mirror, will be a computer display.  

So even as electronics makers struggle with the extremely sluggish economy and the relentless competition, they can look forward to finding ever more shapes and sizes in which to embed their gadgets.  

Here are some edited excerpts from interviews with top executives who attended the electronics show. More of these interviews, along with other articles about the electronics show, can be found at nytimes.com/ personaltech.  

Services via Devices  

“For a long time, our business was defined as cellphones. Hardware is not enough. We need to have a wider array of services and content. This is a major change for us.”  

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chief executive of Nokia  

“In the next five years, we are not only going to provide hardware, but content through our devices, in an easy, more convenient way. TV is no longer just TV. TV is interactive TV these days. You will use the same TV and the same remote control, but have completely different functionality.”  

Jong Woo Park, the president of Samsung’s digital media business  

“You ought to expect that to be more and more unified — three screens: TV, phone, PC — one cloud-based experience. Live, essentially projecting through consistently, and appropriately, to the three screens.”  

Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft  

The Evolving Television  

“Think of Internet on the TV like the Web browser. One view is that the Web, a browser like Firefox, Chrome or I.E., will be right on the television in the next couple years. Another view is, no, a PC-based Web is just too complex. The second one is the phase that we’re in now.”  

Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix  

“Three-D television. That’s really a major, major revolution coming into consumer electronics. That’s one area where we are placing our bets”.  

Woo Hyun Paik, chief technical officer and a president of LG Electronics

Back To Top