Major telephone companies must strike a balance between getting IPTV widely deployed and differentiating their product from that of cable companies by packing in the features, according to Microsoft's top marketer for IPTV.
“IPTV is a richer TV experience, and it has the potential to be substantially differentiated,” said Christine Heckart, general manager of marketing for Microsoft TV. “But if you start with something that is overly complex or too differentiated, you run the risk of scaring the market away. That's why we're telling telcos they need to think big, but start small and move fast.”
Heckart knows more about the telecom industry than your average Microsoft executive. The woman now focused on IPTV once guided WilTel's data network service implementation, then went on to advise dozens of telecom start-ups as president of TeleChoice before aiding Juniper Network's challenge of Cisco Systems in the router arena.
She admits that AT&T's rollout of IPTV, which will take place later this year, “is critically important to us and to the U.S. market,” and sees the new service coming into its own this year.
“The ‘start small’ part really says, when you come out of the gate, do TV really well,” she said. “Make it a better, more intuitive and richer experience than what you can do in TV today. Then, once you have that platform in place, you can move fast to introduce new features.”
Read full article here
“IPTV is a richer TV experience, and it has the potential to be substantially differentiated,” said Christine Heckart, general manager of marketing for Microsoft TV. “But if you start with something that is overly complex or too differentiated, you run the risk of scaring the market away. That's why we're telling telcos they need to think big, but start small and move fast.”
Heckart knows more about the telecom industry than your average Microsoft executive. The woman now focused on IPTV once guided WilTel's data network service implementation, then went on to advise dozens of telecom start-ups as president of TeleChoice before aiding Juniper Network's challenge of Cisco Systems in the router arena.
She admits that AT&T's rollout of IPTV, which will take place later this year, “is critically important to us and to the U.S. market,” and sees the new service coming into its own this year.
“The ‘start small’ part really says, when you come out of the gate, do TV really well,” she said. “Make it a better, more intuitive and richer experience than what you can do in TV today. Then, once you have that platform in place, you can move fast to introduce new features.”
Read full article here