The news was on the wire on February 22nd. Wal mart paid 50 Million USD to acquire Vudu.

Vudu movies streams movies to users over their broadband connection directly into TV sets. Users without compatible televisions need to purchase a set-top box.

I believe this is the beginning of a series of retail stores coming into the content & telecom businesses. It is true that Wal Mart currently sells DVDs in-store and Vudu in a way will compete with their existing business.

But Wal Mart is positionning itself as a provider of (among other things) consumer electronics goods. By acquiring Vudu it can now sell/rent movies in TV sets or rent physical DVD.

A view on the subject by Rayburn;

The bottom line for Vudu — and now Walmart — is that there is not currently a business model for an online video distribution service to survive, noted Rayburn.

“Stores haven’t helped them in the past,” he said. “I see it as another failure on their hands.”

The problem is that there are not enough TVs in the marketplace that are connected to the Internet, according to Rayburn.

There will likely be approximately six to seven million Internet-ready TVs sold in the U.S. this year. Among those TVs, only 15-to-20 percent are actually connected to the Internet. If just 20 percent of seven million TVs are connected, that limits the potential audience to a mere 1.4 million customers, he said.

Walmart, however, is looking to the future. As more customers with broadband Internet access purchase Internet-ready TVs or Blu-ray players, they will be able to rent or purchase movies without needing a computer or cable/satellite service.

Vudu’s technology will enable Walmart to offer customers another way to access home entertainment options as they migrate to a Web-based environment.

And I believe Wal Mart will not be the only retailer to go into that space. Big french retailers have these plans. La Fnac already have an agreement with Glowria (owned by netgem) and offer “La Fnac TV box” although the value proposition looks great they do not advertise the service.

I think the next move will come in the UK or in Germany.

As for the Studios, they  have hesitated to allow recent releases to be rented from outlets like Netflix and Redbox, for fear of losing profits from DVD sales. Similar fears have kept many movies from making their way into streamable video services, encouraging a vigorous online ecosystem for pirated movies. The answer might lie into better protection system?

Note: One Web Any device isn’t it the beginning of the end for them?

Samsung truly comes with a convergent approach, Bada its OS, its Samsung Apps for Mobile & TV…its netbooks and now its eBooks

I was surprized by Gemalto’s Strategic moves…acquired a control stake in Netsize, acquired a small company in for Contacts applications…I believe that their strategy towards services is finally coming true. I am guessing their next move might be in the TV space…

This year, having discussed with co-attendees, expectations will be on:

• Network infrastructure – How to put more data in an already filled pipe?
• LTE – Will telecom operators invest massively on the 4G?
• Mobile Applications – How to leverage on the iPhone experience to the other platforms?
• Mobile Phones – New terminal from Samsung, LG and …the Zune Phone?

More to come…in the next days!

The question is who’s next now.  Buzz City was in close competition with Admob. Big Internet Giants are going shopping pretty soon into mobile advertising networks.

1. Watching Live content (mainly sports, news, events, TV series, reality show)

2. Access to On-Demand content through recommendations, social networks,from Internet

3. User Experience -a simple, easy and convergent interface, TV, Web & Mobile – and soon to come is the 3D technology (see finepix real 3D)

Of course the device on which you will watch this content will just depend on “where you are” when you want to watch it.

In this post I will focus more on companies aiming at providing video services directly to end users, mostly without going through a Pay-TV provider.

Content focused: Netflix & Blockbuster

Netflix and Blockbuster originally provided DVD rental service.  When moving to the internet they provide two things: an online portal for posting DVDs and an over the top internet video on demand service. When coming from online to your TV set 2 choices are given to the end-users: i.connecting your PC to your TV – ii. get the service from your pay-TV provider or some of companies cited above.

Their asset today is: their library of movies (90k for Blockbuster, 100k for Netflix), their ties with the film industry and  their website and associated tools (social networks, search engine, recommendation engine). Indeed, Netflix made a lot of buzz recently with its contest for improving its online recommendation engine. Blockbuster partenered with 2Wire to launch a Media Point box enabling customer to enjoy its service directly on your TV sets.

Software and User Experience focused: Boxee

Boxee is a free, open-source software platform that integrates personal media with Internet media along with social networking. Boxee is designed for your TV and use of a remote control. To get Boxee on your TV you’ll need to connect your computer to the TV screen. Boxee focuses on providing a well designed “Internet on TV” User Experience.

The future for such a company is to remain a software and integrate as a brand its service into a maximum number of  B2C box/connected TV. Their could also provide a branded/white label service to Pay-TV operators that can generate revenue. A revenue share business model can be created between Boxee / Internet Retailers and Pay-TV operators.

A mix of hardware & software, from DVR to Service: Roku, TiVO, TVBlob & Sling

TV Blob & Roku focuses on providing a Box that connects to the Internet.

TVBlob, a European company, combines in the “TVBlob Box” (in partnership with Telesey) Free To Air services available with the Digital Terrestrial TV and Internet services. They are incorporated in 2009. They have already released a Box, and are performing couple of SW releases since the past months. I think their current challenges will be to sign distribution deals with On-Demand platform and content provider. In Europe there is another player trying to get into that market it is Netgem/Glowria who launched with La Fnac (IT Retailer) a similar service than TV Blob but with a VOD service coming from Glowria. Due to a lack of marketing & aggresive communication few people are aware of this service.

Roku is much more advanced than TV Blob. Roku signed a distribution deal with Netflix, Major Base Ball League & Amazon video. Roku’s Box lets you then watch content from different Internet sources. You are not paying for a monthly subscription but only the hardware price (99$). The business model for the content depends on each sources (subscription for netflix, pay per view…). Tomorrow content providers will be able to provide content to Roku’s clients and get revenue from it…bearing in mind Roku’s team will be able to create an easy payment platform and a quality User-Interface. Today their box looks like “yet anyother box”…  The main drawback of Roku is that it doesnot provide you with live services, or any cable offerings…and that’s what TiVO managed to do.

TiVO started its promotion as a Digital Video Recorder but rapidly move into a Service provider. With your TiVO DVR you are able to:

• record and watch your content
• acess to your stored content from your PC or Mobile Phone
• subscribe to your local cable provider
• access to different library of on demand content & internet content (media, music, video)
• purchase from your TV set – their advertisement says you can buy a pizza from TiVO

TiVO though have some legal issue with Pay-TV operators on DVR patents . We will see how it will affect them in the long run. To me their pricing is a bit high when I look at solution like Roku.  And in addition they do not carry any live content themselves which will be a prejudice for them in the future.

A mix of hardware, software and content focused: AppleTV

The AppleTV has the main advantages of Apple strategy: software, hardware & design to create a beautiful and stable product combining it with iTunes. It is important to note that Apple managed to sign a distribution agreement with all the major content providers with its proprietary security solution. Making this device the most comprehensive in terms of offering in the market. But AppleTV is not a success due to a pricing problem and I guess a lack of usability. Apple is working on it and will release a new version of an upgrade of this device as the market is getting more mature.

As a conclusion I think that we will see more of these companies trying their luck into reaching out directly to end-users leveraging from the IP connection. I am a strong believer of such devices (Applet TV, TiVO, Roku, TVBlob…) to me combining the capability of free to air and the internet is the perfect equation. In addition, if I am able to watch my stored content (PC, Hard Drive…) on my TV that will be even better. In terms of mobility, being able to access the content will be the key in order to create a continuous video experience.