While smartphones have seen huge amounts of change and innovation across the past decade, the television experience lags behind. In the following video, Eric Bleeker and Max Macaluso discuss their time at Connections -- "The Premier Connected Home Conference" -- in San Francisco earlier this month.
The two discuss hold-ups to innovation, namely that cable companies control set-top boxes and want to maintain control of the user experience, such as offering pay movies and their own app stores. That's led to a situation where cheap devices like Roku, Google's (GOOGL 1.51%) Chromecast, and Apple (AAPL 0.38%) TV are gaining traction. Yet the fact that each device is separated from the main value in television -- having access to the hundreds of channels the average consumer pays each month -- limits their overall value.
As Eric notes in the video, optimism over ideas like an Apple TV that's actually an integrated television set have ebbed as companies focus more on cheaper devices. So long as big telecoms like Comcast control the set-top-box experience, the television market will likely remain fragmented, with telecoms offering lightly used mobile apps and technology companies focusing on cheap devices that don't easily integrate with television services consumers are paying for.
To see Eric and Max's full thoughts, watch the following video.
