Lifestyle Tech | 25 Sep 2006 :
Intel Viiv remains a 'work in progress'
Intel's
Viiv entertainment platform is lacking in the features and content necessary to
gain traction with consumers, according to a poll of industry analysts.
Richard
Shim, a senior research analyst at IDC, described the system as an incomplete
effort. "It is too early to call it a failure, but it is still a work in
progress," he said.
"Initially
there was a lot of hype about the common experience. The reality is that there
is still potential here, but it will take a while until we see something. Intel
needs to be a little more realistic about the time line for the success of
Viiv."
Intel
launched Viiv last January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, essentially bundling a dual-core
processor with free access to a set of premium online video services.
Intel
intends for consumers to put the devices in their living rooms and connect them
to high definition televisions.
Merlin
Kister, director of consumer client marketing at Intel, said that the company
is "pretty pleased" with Viiv sales.
Citing
a mandatory quiet period prior to the chip firm's upcoming quarterly revenue
release, he was unable to give any recent sales figures for the systems.
Kister
argued that it will take time to build awareness of the Viiv brand with
consumers.
"It's
a challenge to make it clear to your audience what you stand for. Hope fully,
people understand that Viiv is a PC that has been optimised for digital
entertainment," Kister told vnunuet.com.
Steve
Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner, believes that consumers still do
not understand the benefits of Viiv.
"It
is not clear that most users would see [the current video services] as a huge
benefit. They are nice to have, but not enough to drive sales," Kleynhans
told vnunet.com.
He
argued that Viiv PCs currently fail properly to differentiate themselves from a
regular PC running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition.
This
premium version of Microsoft's operating system allows users to record video on
a system's hard drive, but lacks access to the online video services that Viiv
offers.
Kleynhans
added that Intel has done a poor job at marketing Viiv, causing a lack of
consumer awareness.
Rob
Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, blamed Viiv's failure on
Intel's former marketing chief Eric Kim, a one-time executive at Samsung who
was hired by Intel last year.
In a
corporate restructuring last July, Kim was appointed general manager of the
Digital Home Group which includes Viiv.
"He
screwed up Viiv so badly that he got a chance to fix it," said Enderle of
Kim's new role in the platform.
IDC's
Shim added that Kim's experience with consumer electronics might help him in
keeping Viiv afloat, but warned that there is no guarantee of success.
"Just
because you have experience in consumer electronics does not mean that you will
be an expert in consumer behaviour in the downloading of new media," he
said.
Shim
recommended Intel to focus more on delivering compelling content through the
platform. The rise of the YouTube online video site, for instance, has proved
that there is a demand for online video.
"YouTube demonstrates that consumers are aware of streaming
video," he said. "If you see what Apple's iTunes did for online
music, you have to wonder if there can be something similar for digital video.
It does not seem to be that way with Viiv."