TV Evolution: The boot screen debate is far from over

Tencent Science and Technology Lin Jingdong December 2 compiled the last century 80 's, probably is "spring is not reading Day" is hit, a battle on the screen began to appear, and then spawned a lot of different new forms. It's a battlefield without smoke and bloodshed, but it costs as much as $ billions of, and there's only one goal: the first thing that people see when they open their PCs, smartphones and tablets is themselves. Now, the war has spread to television. Media fragmentation has made television one of the most competitive areas in the competition for boot screens. The winner will have a viewing experience when the power button on the device is turned on, and they will gain a huge profit through advertising revenue, monthly subscription services, and a stream of user-contributed transactions. The benefits here are plentiful, and the competition must be bloody. To control a user's screen, you have to meet a range of conditions, including choosing the right time, having strong capital, being competitive and being able to provide the best viewing experience. The entire radio and television industry has a revenue of more than 150 billion dollars a year, and the winners will reap the most from the competition. The contenders for the TV boot screen include content providers, TV manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and service providers. But what kind of competitive weapon do these competitors have, and what kind of results will they have in this battle? Pure content providers like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and YouTube play a pivotal role in this battle. They are either involved in networking/smart-TV competition, or bypassing television, using second-screen apps on smartphones, tablets and laptops, making those devices a real boot screen. That is an area where they are easier to control, participate, and gain access to audiences, but it is not the only area where they are eligible to participate, as ISPs are qualified to enter the field, and many network service providers are already doing so. These content providers are extremely important because they produce many original and original channels. Although they are attractive to the audience, it is not clear whether they will continue to produce original content and remain profitable in the current monthly subscription model. Google recently announced that it will increase its pay channel's pilot interface and add more content creators. Hardware makers like Samsung, LG and Vizio now control the boot screen, although they have ceded control to service providers, but they have a chance in the world of networking. As the battle continues, these vendors are scrambling to launch smart-TV content such as games, advertising, software and other features. Nevertheless, the US will soon fall behind other markets in smart-TV sales. Some analysts say the slowdown in smart-TV sales is largely due to the lack of platform choices offered by some US manufacturers. "Samsung, LG, Sony and Panasonic will continue to rely on their analytics," said Wu Jia, an analyst at Strategy's network of household equipment.Their platform or Google TV and other Third-party platform products for the European and American smart TV market. Chinese TV makers such as Hisense, TCL and Skyworth are also starting to embrace the Android platform. "In addition to the challenges in terms of content, the 5-7-year buying cycle of television products has also left those manufacturers lagging behind in launching new products." TV makers have more advantages in the open market offering their own inexpensive mini hardware upgrades, which may compete with cheap dog or plug and Play devices to provide more new features for older TVs. Equipment manufacturers in the field of the situation is more complex, with Apple Apple, Roku, Boxee and have Chromecast Google are not to be outdone. Although they are not occupying the boot screen, they are more flexible than the larger hardware vendors, so they have a good starting point. However, the ease of use of some devices is yet to be improved, but public users are available. At the same time, in order to be able to survive for a long time, all equipment manufacturers must have a renewable source of income to compensate for the lower profit margins of the equipment sales business. Among these manufacturers, Apple and Google have the greatest chance of success because they are able to withstand losses in the equipment business in exchange for huge market share, and then profit through a variety of service charges and large-scale transactions. Chromecast provides Google with a cheap device that simplifies online video services and increases YouTube browsing and revenue. At the same time, we should also focus on consoles, especially Microsoft's Xbox. Game makers have shown they can be the center of Home entertainment systems, and their latest version adds more media-centric functionality, posing a real threat to other vendors. Previously, multiple-system operators and multi-channel video-program publishers such as Comcast, DirecTV, Verizon and others have controlled the boot screen market, and they have a unique competitive advantage because they have a monthly service income that is not affected by the high cost of manufacturing. As the times progresses, these vendors may not even support traditional set-top box products, and they may be able to get bigger results at lower cost through cheap equipment/dog encryption or direct networking. The risk for these vendors is whether they can maintain rapid innovation and maintain their long-term competitiveness. With tablets and smartphones gradually replacing laptops. In fact, 41% of video browsing in the first half of 2013 came from mobile phones and 59% from tablets. Many analysts use tablets and smartphones as their boot screens, and they don't even think about televisions. They can also use a variety of network aggregators or network applications to simplify content discovery, potentially replacing cable TV set-top boxes and other similar devices. So who's going to be the last big winner? The Battle of the boot screen is far from over and the road ahead is long. The issues that need to be addressed at the moment includeProvides content for fragmented devices, simplifies the user interface, and perfects search and discovery tools. Finally, the control of the boot screen will evolve into the question of who can connect consumers to the most valuable and best experiences, so while the competition is fierce and ugly, the ultimate benefit is consumers.