Personally, I don't think the TV makers will be smart enough for a while to open their platforms to software developers in a way that is attractive enough for developers to really embrace it. It'll be to the Android Market what the Android Market is to the iOS App Store. Android Market seems to be just about good enough, whereas the App Store is a roaring success. Anything worse than the Android Market is probably going to be a failure.
And: Software? Yes, software. It's playing an increasingly large role in all consumer electronics. When I look at the average TV's kafkaesque OSD menus I have very little faith that they won't fuck up something more complicated. Even if Android develops a big screen offshoot, most TV makers will fuck up the implementation, if the majority of Android phones and tablets is anything to go by. The mindset of the hardware makers still is such that the software is an afterthought. It's increasingly becoming the make or break component.
The current lot of "smart" TVs certainly reflects that attitude - they can't even get web browsing right on a most basic level.
This gives Apple, Boxee, etc. a chance to establish themselves in that market with boxes that are separate from the TV itself. Game consoles are in that category as well, except they're expensive and (still) have a "gamer" stigma associated with them. I understand the Xbox's non-game UI is actually pretty good, so Microsoft could probably release a cheap Xbox without the expensive CPU, GPU and DVD drive, which does everything but play (AAA) games. Extend XBLA to non-game apps. And for god's sake don't call it Xbox, that will transfer the stigma.
Btw, Sony will probably miss this opportunity because their TV division is separate from the PlayStation one. And Nintendo, well, no idea. They don't really seem to get the Internet. But they've surprised us before. (they have the Opera browser on the Wii!)
> And Nintendo, well, no idea. They don't really seem to get the Internet. But they've surprised us before. (they have the Opera browser on the Wii!)
Nintendo is certainly apart from the rest of the herd. I feel like they are positioning themselves as a "social" gaming company. I don't mean "social" as in Facebook, but more like those experiences people had playing NES games with their friends next to them on the couch.
Their platform encourages multiplayer games to be played on the same screen. The N64 was the first console to have four controller ports (the SNES had an expander peripheral as well). Their Pokemon games promote sharing and playing with friends over ad-hoc wifi. They have eschewed standard support for a headset, making multiplayer-online games (SSMB:M and Mario Kart comes to mind) like playing against more challenging AI. Super Mario Galaxy 1/2 are great games, and are made even greater by allowing two people on the same couch to work together.
I'm certain that the company understands the importance of the internet (the Wii store is nothing to write home about, but it's certainly good enough). I think that they've decided that internet gaming is not a place that they want to be (for better or worse).
Yeah, having worked on a Wii game I know all too well what their policies on internet multiplayer are. In this context though, I guess I meant that they don't seem to be terribly interested in developing their consoles beyond mere game machines and bringing internet-based services into the living room. Then again, they're practically printing money, so who am I to criticise.
As another voice on the subject - I like the concept but struggle with the execution.
Net result, I actually run a basic low-power PC alongside my TV, 99% used just to provide 'connected TV' services. Works very nicely and avoids compatibility issues because it's absolutely just another PC so the standard services such as the BBC iPlayer, YouTube and Justin.TV all work fine.
