Three Screens and Beyond: Getting the Most Out of Your Content

When people talk about converged communications, a term popularized by the proliferation of IP networking, they most commonly are referring to the ability to deliver voice, video and data over the same networks. And when you add the term “unified communications,” you then incorporate multiple devices – fixed and mobile – into that converged scenario, where users have access to communications and other network resources from those various devices, increasing business productivity significantly.

But, when you consider the consumer market, particularly in North America, there remains a high degree of fragmentation between devices and service or content. When I spoke to Bobby Cha, managing director of business development at Inbrics, he explained that North American consumers interact with their networks, resources, and content on a device-to-device basis. In other words, most have a cell phone, a television, and a laptop or PC, and when they need to do something, they go to one of those devices, depending on the particular activity.

What Cha says Inbrics is hoping to drive is a change in consumer habits and in the way they interact with their technology, such that the focal point becomes the content and not the device or access technology.

Certainly, we have seen a limited amount of movement in this regard, with devices like Slingbox allowing users to stream their home television programming to their laptops and smartphones. But what Inbrics, with its SoIP (Service over IP) device hopes to achieve is a sharing of all IP-delivered content and services on all of devices in the home.

“Our SoIP device acts as a control panel in the home, harnessing the capabilities of all the devices,” he says. “For instance, you can watch a television program on the TV set, and then use our device to push it to a cell phone or laptop. Or you can download content onto the SoIP device and then move it to any of your other devices.”

The idea is really to eliminate traditional barriers between devices in the home, allowing users to interact with their content and services, rather than with their devices. What users can do on one device, they should easily be able to do on all of them.

Inbrics has typically relied on WiFi to enable connectivity between devices, but it recently announced a new Androidbased smartphone, which also incorporates 3G and WiMAX (News - Alert) capabilities, effectively removing any geographic constraints imposed by WiFi-only devices.

The natural fit would seem to be with the carrier market – and Cha says Inbrics has had conversations with a number of U.S. providers. But, knowing the mindset of the U.S. carriers and content providers, one has to wonder about potential limitations they would try to impose on such multi-device capabilities, not to mention the penchant for exclusivity among wireless carriers and what impact that might have on Inbrics’ ability to penetrate the market.

Cha also says that, surprisingly, Inbrics has been approached by a number of consumer brands that are looking to penetrate U.S. households in ways other than traditional marketing strategies. For them, the ability to push content and advertising directly into the home is an appealing proposition.

For instance, imagine a Facebook (News - Alert)-branded SoIP Homestation, which would provide instant access to its application on any home device. Or, consider a security system that can automatically stream surveillance footage onto not only devices in the home, but the mobile devices anywhere. Or perhaps digital photo stores or music catalogs that can easily be accessed through connected devices anywhere.

These concepts aren’t new – and many are available through Web-based services worldwide. What is new, however, is the concept of connecting all the different devices on a home network (or via cellular carrier) to make it simpler, easier and more convenient – and to enable all types of content via a single SoIP Homestation.

Certainly, we’re seeing the development of more advanced multi-use devices, like the Apple (News - Alert) iPad, but there will always be a need for multiple devices (after all, is an iPad really the optimal screen for watching the Super Bowl?). On the other hand, if you happen to be away from home on Super Bowl Sunday, wouldn’t it be great to be able to not only watch the game, but to also interact with your friends – lets add a video camera to the mix so you can talk about the last play while watching the replays.

Is the consumer market ready for this kind of freedom? Many markets are, including Inbrics’ home market Korea, where broadband penetration is extremely high, as is the demand for content, and users are looking for devices that are capable of more than most American consumers can imagine. But, Cha believes the U.S. market will come around in 18 to 24 months, and Inbrics plans to begin rolling out its products here by the2010 holiday season. IT

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