Is Microsoft IPTV’s Weak Link?

[Archived in Entry]

[Om Malik’s Broadband Blog] Read the newspapers and you can walk away convinced that it is just the messiah that is going to save Bells from their past, and propel them into the future. That indeed might be the case, but one decision that leaves me scratching my head: why are they relying on Microsoft’s ability to deliver its promised IPTV software platform. Microsoft has a checkered past when its comes to television, and other related efforts. It is prone to delay its product launches (Longhorn?) and even when they ship, the crust is not fully baked.

Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.

[TVover.net] New Global Market Leader Report Tracks Over 220 Service Providers and 60 Suppliers: “The IPTV market is still in early development," states Bob Larribeau, MRG Sr. Analyst, "so it is prone to unpredictable market dynamics." Some of the sector highlights include surprises: In the Middleware sector, Microsoft joined forces with Alcatel, winning long-term contracts with SBC in the US. In Set-top Boxes, while competition remains balanced among multiple suppliers, such as Motorola, Pace, Amino, Kreatel, i3 and others, Yuxing gained strength in Asia based on its deployment in PCCW/Hong Kong.

[Policani's Digital Media Blog] Global IPTV Market Leader Report Now Tracking Over 220 Service Providers and 60 Suppliers: "The IPTV market is still in early development," states Bob Larribeau, MRG Sr. Analyst, "so it is prone to unpredictable market dynamics." Some of the sector highlights include surprises: in the Middleware sector, Microsoft joined forces with Alcatel, winning long-term contracts with SBC in the U.S. In Set-top Boxes, while competition remains balanced among multiple suppliers, such as Motorola, Pace, Amino, Kreatel, i3 and others, Yuxing gained strength in Asia based on its deployment in PCCW/Hong Kong. In VOD Servers, while Kasenna and Bitband maintained leadership in North America and Europe, respectively, Entone won a big contract with PCCW (Hong Kong), which strengthened its position in China."  [ more... ]

[Going Global] Every Little Bit Counts: they've got a long ways to go yet.... The Wall Street Journal documents Microsoft's efforts to profit from developing markets while battling piracy. As I've mentioned before, Microsoft's response over the past decade to a piracy-prone market has been to simply ignore that market. That is, until Linux

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog » IPTV: “It also costs something like 6 times the price of other services and necessitates the use of Windows 2003 VoD servers, something they are singularly not good at. “ Ironically, all the stuff Microsoft cooked-up for cable operators, seems to be working nicely, and cable operators are happy using those products. Insiders tell us that the code base for the IPTV set top and server services is completely different from the cable TV code base, despite the fact that the two systems do much the same thing, albeit over widely varying networks.

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog » Wired: But the new aggressive move could be a way to throttle down cable operator’s current speed advantage. Alternatively, since we have been noticing all the issues with IPTV - technical and political - which means the higher speeds could take a little while, this could be a defensive move to shore up against line losses to cable operators a chance to mop-up the broadband market. By being aggressive, SBC can lock in a lot more people. That’s smart.

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog » Wired: “It also costs something like 6 times the price of other services and necessitates the use of Windows 2003 VoD servers, something they are singularly not good at. “ Ironically, all the stuff Microsoft cooked-up for cable operators, seems to be working nicely, and cable operators are happy using those products. Insiders tell us that the code base for the IPTV set top and server services is completely different from the cable TV code base, despite the fact that the two systems do much the same thing, albeit over widely varying networks.

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog: But the new aggressive move could be a way to throttle down cable operator’s current speed advantage. Alternatively, since we have been noticing all the issues with IPTV - technical and political - which means the higher speeds could take a little while, this could be a defensive move to shore up against line losses to cable operators a chance to mop-up the broadband market. By being aggressive, SBC can lock in a lot more people. That’s smart.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, IPTV, Plasma TV News

Posted at June 06, 2005 01:35 PM