“It’s long been the PC industry’s dream, to take center stage in the vast home entertainment market. Success, however, has been elusive,” Matthew Fordahl reports for The Associated Press. “And so the industry will launch in 2006 its most aggressive effort yet to persuade people to buy computers for wrangling the expanding universe of digital content. Leading the charge are longtime PC collaborators Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp., both of which are promising better support for high-definition programming and an improved ability to send video, still pictures and music throughout the home and to portable gadgets. Macintosh maker Apple Computer Inc. is also widely expected to join the fray and, perhaps, do for entertainment computers what it did for digital music players when it unleashed the iPod in 2001.”
Fordahl reports, “Most companies haven’t taken close enough notice of the what’s behind Apple’s iPod success, says Rob Enderle, an analyst at the Enderle Group research firm. ‘Most of the technology products being thrown at the home market aren’t particularly attractive or well priced, and ease of use isn’t anywhere in their description,’ he said. ‘Until that gets fixed, we’re going to have some serious problems.’
“Intel’s answer is Viiv, a hardware and quality assurance platform that’s expected to be launched in the first part of the year. As Intel did with its Centrino brand for notebooks and Wi-Fi hot spots, it will make sure Viiv-stickered PCs, gadgets, services and content play well with one another… Apple — the leading seller of music players, online music and video — also has its own flavor of DRM that it hasn’t shared with anyone. ‘In as much as Apple is successful, it’s a fly in the ointment for everybody else,’ Kay said. At the same time, there’s growing speculation that Apple will make a run for the living room. In October, it launched new iMac G5 computers with a simply designed program called Front Row that can be controlled from a distance with a six-button remote control. The computer doesn’t support live video, and the iMac’s all-in-one design doesn’t make it an obvious choice for living rooms outside of dorms and studio apartments. But Apple does have a small, inexpensive computer, the Mac Mini, which would blend well in an entertainment center. The Cupertino company also is switching to Intel chips in 2006 — a move that could help bring down Mac prices. It’s not known whether it will participate in Viiv, and neither company is commenting on the plans, if any.”
Full article here.
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