Paul Kapustka's Blog
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September 12, 2006
AOL will have TV-based Web search next week
BOSTON, Mass. -- Both visionaries who champion the startup and big-media moguls can agree: Video on the Net is going to be a big, big part of the IP communications economy, sooner than you may think.
In back-to-back keynotes Tuesday morning that showed both the potential of enabled entrepreneurs as well as the might of a popular entertainment entity, VON's Jeff Pulver and AOL's Ted Leonsis gave the Fall VON 2006 audience a glimpse of what their online video experiences of the near future might be, ranging from virtual speeches in imaginary worlds to a wide array of user-selected prime-time-quality content.
Pulver, the founder and chairman of show producer pulvermedia, said he is looking for the "Vonage of video" to emerge soon, taking advantage of price decreases that have made powerful technologies -- like advanced digital cameras and online production platforms -- affordable to small startups or even individuals.
Following Pulver's demonstrations of some cutting-edge technology -- including a motion-picture quality Web video viewer and a "virtual" Webcast of his speech on the Second Life platform -- was AOL veteran Leonsis, who gave the standing-room-only crowd an early announcement of AOL's "10-foot user interface," a Web search screen for televisions that the company will formally unveil next week.
Layered atop AOL's already exhaustive offerings of repurposed broadcast content (like old TV shows), custom Internet programming (its "Sessions" music-video series) and soon-to-come user-contributed video (a YouTube-like service planned for October release), AOL's new Web video offerings are all meant to make it easier for consumers to control their viewing experiences, Leonsis said.
"The Web has truly put the steering wheel in the consumers' hands, and they ain't giving it back," said Leonsis.
AOL also plans to do as much as it can to open up its platforms to make them more accessible to users and developers, Leonsis said, pointing toward the recent announcement of APIs and a developers' program for AIM Phoneline as just a start.
Openness, Leonsis said, is one of the keys to being successful in the Web 2.0 world, which is finally reaching critical mass of advertisers and end users.
"Spring training is over, and the real season has started," Leonsis said. "Now it's our job to make consumers happy."
Posted by paul at September 12, 2006 10:07 AM