Many are asking the question of Digital Convergence"--What would become the centerpiece of the digital home entertainment center? Computer vs. TV vs. Game Console? Marketing expert and author of High Intensity Marketing, Idris Mootee explained how this will play out while speaking to a group of European executives in Paris.

Marketing expert Idris Mootee predicts that TV will remain predominantly as the centre of home entertainment where the PCs will become more personal, portable and powerful and will perform the role of a personal productivity centre and digital assets storage. Where does that leave the convergence" argument? Mr. Mootee thinks most homes will likely continue to have different devices for different purposes. "People simply do not want one machine to do everything," Mr.Mootee added, Do you wash your clothes and dishes with the same machine?"

Boston, MA and Toronto, ON (PRWEB) October 4, 2004 - Everyone talks about Digital Convergence"- what would become the centerpiece of the digital entertainment center in our homes. The functional boundaries defining the dominant communication tools of our time-the PC, TV, and telephone-have disappeared. Today, PCs stream video, TVs provide high-speed access to the Web and wireless telephones conduct on-line transactions. In a word, the technologies are converging. As these technologies converge, it is transforming the world of entertainment and communications.

According to Mr. Mootee, Convergence is an over simplified notion that any single digital appliance will handle multiple tasks such as playing music, watching movies, recording TV programs, handle personal finance, storing and sharing photos, sending email, monitoring home security and of course shopping on the web etc. is simply flawed. Game console players are investing heavily making convergence work given their broad installed base just as many of the industry's biggest players believe strongly in convergence:

- Sony pins their hopes on the PSX, a multifunction device that combines a PS2 game player, a DVD burner and a TiVo-like personal DVD with 160 gigabyte memory that can store 200 hours of digital programming. In Japan they begin selling a combination PC and video server that can record up to seven channels of television simultaneously.
- Motorola unveiled its DVD/CD wireless digital receiver that receives streaming video and audio from the PC.
- TiVo and Netflix also made announcement for a set-top box that would let consumers download movies onto their TiVos through high-speed Web connections and watch films at their leisure.
- Microsoft is taking a slightly more cautious route in redesigning its Xbox game console into a convergence device and plan to launch an "Xbox Media Center Extender Kit" that will connect the game console with a PC running the Windows XP Media Center operating system.

While theres no telling on who would the winners, the author recenty conducted a survey asking 80 marketing executives about how they see this convergence trend will play out and what will gain mass consumer acceptance. Here are some of the findings:

- When asked if a PC with wireless music broadcasting capability will be widely accepted as a music server for home instead of a dedicated server, 76% of respondents believed this would be the case as wireless routers would become more affordable and the PC provides more additional functions such as ripping and mixing.
- When asked if a game console with functions similar to TiVo be widely accepted as a digital video recorder, 62% thought this would likely be the case since game console is almost every home.
-When asked if a game console with voice chat using VOIP be widely accepted, 86% agreed so as they believed this would be an excellent feature especially among teenagers while parents often complain about their teenagers occupying their phone lines for too long. Plus the fact that VOIP is very inexpensive.
- When asked if a game console equipped with a special web browser be widely accepted to be used to surf the web on TV, only 23% believed this would work. 68% never believed this would happen as consumer would not be able to refrain from the temptation of playing video games compared to surfing the web, especially if it is performed with the same appliance or controller.

Also, according to the survey, 85% of the respondents believed that consumer electronics would enjoy a sustained growth in the next 3-5 years when innovative convergence devices started to hit the market.

Mr. Mootee predicts that TV will remain predominantly as the centre of home entertainment, an appliance to be shared among family members and a furniture art piece (for the super thin TV). People need passive channel surfing, just as they need to flip through magazines and fliers instead of reading a book. Where the PCs will become more personal, more portable, more powerful and will perform the role of a personal productivity centre and storge of personal digital assets. As for the future of game console? Mr. Mootee believes they will always remain to be game consoles.

Where does that leave the convergence" argument? Mr. Mootee thinks most homes will likely continue to have different devices for different functions, even if at some stage they can be inter-connected wirelessly. Although there will be overlaps in functionalities among these appliances but people simply do not want one machine to do everything. Mr.Mootee adds, Do you wash your clothes and dishes with the same machine?"

About Idris Mootee
Idris Mootee is a business strategist, author and recognized expert in strategic marketing. For more than two decades, he has worked with senior executives advising them on marketing of innovative technologies and designing customer experiences to improve consumer adoptions of those innovations. He frequently gives executive briefings on new marketing trends. He is the author of High Intensity Marketing: A comprehensive marketing companion for CEOs and 60-Minute Brand Strategist and holds an MBA and an MSC in management science. He is based out of Boston and Toronto.

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