Bill Myers - January 17, 2009

I've been following the new products released at last weeks Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and I think I have identified the one product that will have the longest and most important impact on us as consumers and product developers.

That product . . .

. . . internet enabled TV sets.

With these devices, you can browse the web and view web video right on your TV screen.

You can order movies, or view the tv shows of your choice, search YouTube, visit most web sites, and even place product orders - using just your TV remote.

And these internet enabled TVs are not products of the future. They are available right now and you don't need to be a computer geek to hook them up.

To me, this represents a major jump in technology and should scare the pants off of network TV broadcasters.

It means we consumers are no longer chained to our computers if we want to view content from the internet. And it means instead of the 100 or 200 channels that cable tv offers, we will now have millions of web sites and web videos we can view on our large screen TVs.

It is very likely internet enabled TV will fundamentally change the way consumers use their TVs, and may mean the end of network programming as we know it.

This new direction for TV will undoubtedly create huge opportunities for new products and new video content, and will likely create mega stars out of some YouTube personalities.

Now is the time to think about including the impact of internet TV in your product development and web business strategies. I know I am.