Monday April 6, 2009 – Stewart Wolpin
It is rare that the major consumer electronics companies are so – well, to avoid being completely insulting, let's say short-sighted.
Over the last few months, there have been many new HDTVs that include specialized Web surfing capabilities such as Sony's Bravia Link, Panasonic's Viera Cast, and the Yahoo! Widgetsavailable on some Samsung and Sony models.
All these connected HDTVs and Blu-ray players, however, require an Ethernet jack to connect them to the internet.
Approximately 60 percent of U.S. homes have broadband, and therefore Ethernet, connections. But how many of these U.S. homes have an Ethernet jack in their living room?
I've seen no data to answer this question. I've asked any number of people who would either be in a position to know or would need to know, but all I get is a shrug of the shoulders.
My guess? Hardly any.
And yet, there are no connected HDTVs and no Blu-ray Live decks that include Wi-Fi capabilities.
How do these companies hope to sell any of these connected devices if consumers have no way to connect them?
Why haven't these manufacturers included Wi-Fi connectivity? Good question. I don't think it's cost. Most of the current media streamers such as Apple TV ($230, $330), Myka ($280-$390), the Kodak Theatre HD Player ($300), and the varying streamers from Netgear such as the Digital Entertainer Elite EVA9150 ($400), are equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity. And TiVo offers Wi-Fi adapters for its HD DVRs. It seems Wi-Fi connectivity can be easily built into or included for a living room device without adding appreciably to the price. Perhaps there are issues with consistent quality and/or connectedness, or concerns about signal security that have kept suppliers from incorporating Wi-Fi?
At least the Blu-ray Live deck makers are getting the message. Sony will start to sell its WiFi-enabled BDP-S560 ($350) in July; Samsung hasn't said when it will start selling its as-yet unpriced BD-P4600 and BD-P3600 Blu-ray decks, which will include Wi-Fi dongles.
But that still leaves a lot of connected HDTVs and Blu-ray Live decks with no way to wirelessly connect them – and a lot of advanced products with limited constituency to sell them to. Device makers may have a perfectly good reason for leaving Wi-Fi out of their business plans, but they didn’t include me in on their plans.
