There are 1 million Philips Net TV owners that use their connected TV set three or four times a month, according to Pieter Vervoort, VP Philips Net TV. Speaking at the Telecompaper Connected TV conference in Utrecht, he also told that the company will issue an SDK before the end of the year.
Connected TV sets – or Smart TVs as a number of CE manufacturers are starting to call their devices – are becoming the norm. By 2013, 62% of all TV sets sold will have connectivity, according to industry research.
“Our Smart TVs bring together three ways to watch content,” said Vervoort, “Regular broadcast televsion, web TV and locally stored content on the home ntwork.” Philips laucnhed its forst Net TV sets in 2008 and has gradually added functionalities, including catch-up TV in 2009 and VOD in 2010 with various broadcast and other content partners.
Net TV deals are mostly done on a national or regional level, such as RTL XL, the web TV service from RTL Nederland and the Dutch public broadcasters’ Uitzending Gemist. Across Europe, dozens of deals are in place with broadcasters, as well as with owners of premium content for VOD services.
Smart TV also offers an App Gallery, with currently some 400 appliations, which includes Raditime for access to thousands of radio stations. In order to encourage outside development, Philips will issue the SDK before the end of the year. The company hopes that developers will create all kinds of apps including gaming and B2B functionalities.
In order to offer the Smart TV functionalities to all consumers, Philips has also equipped its Bluray players and Soundbar devices with Smart TV. With prices starting at €149 for a BD player, people are able to use Smart TV with any TV set. Philips is also introducing a wireless keyboard to act as a remote control for more advanced Smart TV services.
