Smartphone replacing Remote Controls?

The standard TV remote control, lost so many times beneath sofa cushions, may soon be lost to history. Many people are now switching to their smart phones as substitutes to their remote controls.

TV viewing habits are changing as more Internet and on-demand content — YouTube videos, streaming movies, shopping sites, Facebook photos — flows directly onto big screens. Navigating all of that demands more action from the viewer, including a fair amount of typing, which current remotes cannot handle.

There have already been successful attempts to use smartphones as remotes. Sonos, which makes Internet-connected stereos, offers a free iPhone application that replicates every feature of its own $349 touch-screen remote control. Over half of Sonos customers now use the app, which links to the stereo over a Wi-Fi network.

Several television manufacturers, like Mitsubishi and Samsung, are following suit with smartphone remotes, and phone apps are part of both Apple and Google’s TV offerings.

Technology giants like Apple and Google, along with a wave of Silicon Valley start-ups, have a vision for the future that would make channel-surfing seem quaint. Soon, they believe, viewers will choose from vast pools of video without distinguishing between TV broadcasts and content streamed over the Internet.

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Mid-level Aftermarket Entertainment Remotes Continue to Gain Market Share

U.S. households are increasingly looking to the remote control as their link to easing the complexity of control and search among the growing number of disparate systems in their homes, according to Aftermarket Entertainment: Universal Remote Controllers (Second Edition).

This new report from Parks Associates confirms and expands upon the trends identified in the 2006 first edition. These include the increasing desire and willingness of U.S. households to replace current remote controls with one that is more capable and can enhance their experiences with new entertainment systems.

The report provides purchase process details for aftermarket remotes, brand shares among U.S. Internet households, unit numbers and revenues for high-end remotes sold by dealers installing entertainment systems, and forecasts by product segment from 2007-2012. In addition, the report offers a segmentation of URC owners and recent buyers along with their ratings about key features important to their ultimate buying decisions.

The report also details continuing inhibitors and explores a few key strategies to increase consumer awareness and the willingness of TV manufacturers to offer different levels of remotes at the point of purchase.

Full Release available: http://newsroom.parksassociates.com/article_display.cfm?instance_code=parksassociates&article_id=5085