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November 30, 2012

One-third of households to have Smart TVs in next five years

Smart TV sale to reach over 220 million units by 2017

By CBR Staff Writer

About 31% of households are expected to own a Smart TV over the next five years with sales reaching over 220 million units by 2017, according to a new report.

According to a report from Informa Telecoms & Media about 54 million Smart TVs will be sold this year alone but most of them will remain unconnected.

Though Smart-TV connection will rise but the connection rates will be less than the connection rates of games consoles and media-streaming devices, such as Apple TV and Roku, the report added.

Informa Telecoms & Media senior analyst Andrew Ladbrook said that by 2017 more than half of the 800 million Smart TV sets will only be used as dumb screens. "Moreover, while any ‘Smart’ TV bought in 2011 or 2012 can be used for streaming online video services for a few years, they lack the processing power and the necessary hardware to perform those Smart-TV functions that will be standard in 2015," Ladbrook said.

"Simply put, any Smart TV purchased in 2012 will be effectively obsolete by 2015," he said.

Fragmentation of platforms and standards is expected to stand as a barrier for the growth while the lack of universal apps are another concern for the market as apps cannot be easily installed in multiple devices with each Smart-TV platform requiring a customised application.

This is expected to benefit companies like Samsung and LG while Google TV or Android will come to be the default Smart-TV OS for Smart TVs in the coming years, the report said.

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"If TVs are going to be truly smart, they must do more than offer a wide variety of online video services," Ladbrook added.

"Instead they must add advanced functionality including voice control, motion control, advanced advertising, attractive user interfaces and two-way communications with other smart devices – so-called ‘second screens’ – allowing these devices to send video to the TV and also know what is being watched."

"Manufacturers should focus less on adding more content and more on improving how users can interact with that content," he said.

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