Yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a fireside chat, tried to convince the world that Apple is still the center of innovation in the technology world. Cook said that about one quarter of Apple employees were working on new products. There were no specifics but presumably new products include iTV.
While Cook was being vague, Intel was beating iTV to the punch, at least in terms of announcing a new TV service with a fair amount of details.
What is a semiconductor company doing announcing a TV service? Besides making semiconductors, Intel also employs more than 10,000 programmers and has taken stakes in about 400 start ups. Many of these start ups are related to media.
Intel brought in Erik Huggers, who had previously launched a high profile internet based service and app called iPlayer at BBC. Huggers hired a dream team from companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Rovi.
Intel’s history in TV boxes is one of failures. Some readers may recall failed efforts like Logitech’s Revue based on Google technology that used TV optimized chips from Intel. In 2011, Intel closed its retail TV business.
In spite of Intel’s past failures, there is precedence of success in Xbox. Microsoft, a software company, ended up producing a hugely successful device in Xbox…Read more at Forbes
