False Twitter accounts, possible press events, Apple TV and 3D are setting the early news agenda, writes Julian Clover.
So far in 2012 the media news has been dominated by two stories that haven’t actually happened. The first was whether or not Rupert Murdoch’s Twitter account was genuine; despite being verified by the social networking site it turned out that while Rupert’s Tweets were genuine, the same couldn’t be said for those of his ‘wife’.
The other non-story was Apple’s acquisition of Premier League rights. This was bewildering at so many different levels. There is this journalist trick I do known as the ‘reverse news story’. Basically, if you turn the story upside down, is it still interesting?
Given that Apple doesn’t actually acquire content, but instead provides the platform for others to do so, the idea that they would not be bidding for the Premier League seems entirely reasonable.
But the prospect of Apple announcing that it will be launching its own TV set – as opposed to a £99 box that makes a dumb set smart – is getting a few people foaming at the mouth. Apple is the kind of company where news of a press conference is deemed worthy of coverage in its own right. Having built the event up you can then run a story that declares it to be a disappointment. Like if rather than Apple TV, the conference turns out to be about software, which is more than likely.
The interest is of course in what Apple might do to the connected or smart TV business. As discussed here before, what it really needs to do is to licence its AirPlay technology to other manufacturers. This allows iPad owners to send video content direct to their TV and would make a neat feature for any Smart TV manufacturer to offer.
As an Apple user of 20 years standing I know that Apple likes to link its products together to the exclusion of others.
So does this make smart TV the topic to watch during 2012? The Olympics will undoubtedly be linked to anything and everything and in the television business that means 3D and HDTV. The latter is as good as standard, but we have the excellent but impractical Super Hi-Vision for anyone with room for an 85 inch display. Demonstrations will be available in the UK, United States and Japan.
The Olympics will also have extensive 3D content available, it is not exactly a case of 3D needing the Olympics (particularly in those countries where a public rather than a pay-TV broadcaster has the rights), but Canal’s decision to scale back its 3D commitment is not going to help those who look at the shortening 3D queues outside cinemas, sigh, and say here we go again.
