we are: London

A review in Revolution of online TV services by our MD Chris Averill brought out one factor that was really interesting to me, a lack of social media integration. A new beta version of the BBC iPlayer looks set to change that in a big way. Once users register for a BBC ID they connect with their Facebook and Twitter accounts and share favourite and recommended programs.

The hero item displays featured and popular programmes along with personal recommendations

Hello Facebook friends! I’m watching Doctor Who

Facebook and Twitter are definitely the flavour of the moment and integrating with these services could be a very clever move for the BBC. After all I have both social media accounts linked to various things including my phone’s contact book. This integration allows users to automatically post updates to their Facebook wall. Users can also share their favourite programs with their friends and discover new shows through their friends’ recommendations. This brings a whole new dimension to watching TV that has not yet been exploited by other online TV sources.

Users can both recommend programmes and view those recommended by friends

LOL, check out this m8

A really nice feature that encourages the sharing of videos is the link to this feature. This allows users to easily access a link not only just to the video they are watching but an exact point in that videos timeline. Good riddance to scrolling through videos trying to find an exact time when someone cracks a really funny joke your friend just sent you a message about. Making it as easy as possible for users to share videos encourages word of mouth or ‘text of social media’ advertising.

Users can easily link directly to positions within a video

What about the competition?

So how does the competition shape up? In Chris’ review both the ITV Player and 4od service did not offer any social integration and this has not changed. This major step forward by the iPlayer is leaving the competition behind at the starting gates and more features are also on the way from the BBC. They are hoping to integrate Windows Live Messenger into the beta in the coming weeks. This will provide an even deeper social media integration and encourage a more in depth social interaction between users.

usability design, user centred design, user interface Design, future, innovation, Interactive TV, Internet, social networking

BBC iPlayer infographic

Uncategorized Interactive TV, Internet

In January I made a few predictions about what the year had in store for the digital world. One that I did not put in but have talked about for ages is the end of free online services.

Basically as ad spend decreases and take up of online services increases, something has to give. A recent story on the BBC website shows BT’s new aggressive stance on asking iPlayer to pay for bandwidth.

More of the same will come as people watch more video, save more photos and re-post more content via social networks. Add to this the cut throat pricing of broadband, reduced advertising revenues and suddenly you are looking at an unsustainable business model.

So, a quick review of my predictions from January:

1. Video on Demand finally gets in to peoples homes for real (iPlayer) √
   
2. Video on Demand gets a new name (iPlayer) √
3. Interactive TV advertising (Sky green button) √
4. BT Vision moves from Microsoft to open platforms (Or Sky goes onto xbox 360) √
5. DRM free VOD (can’t win them all!) x
6. Mobile web (go go iPhone, Nokia and Andriod) √
7. Nokia Tube turns out not to be an iPhone beater (yep I own one, it’s pants) √
8. iPhone Nano (By Autumn, I promise) x
   
9. Mac tablet (See above) x
   
10. No one buys Twitter (still) √

So 7 out of ten is not bad considering we are only at the start of June. And whilst you may or may not agree with all of these it’s pretty interesting to see how fast things change.

Another foot note from January was my prediction that Apple would start to slip form wonder kid to main stream business and given the recent launch of new iPhone, this seems to be happening.

Although I would hate to see Apple done anything than succeed as I love how Steve has turned a business round by giving customers what they want! And that’s where we are, helping you give your customers what they want, although I am no Steve Jobs, I know we can help you make a big difference.

Let’s see where we are in another 6 months:

1. Windows 7 is just as rubbish as Vista?

customer insight Design, future, Interactive TV, Microsoft, Mobile, Predictive, Twitter

It may seem a little late in the month to be making predictions, but cautious times call for cautious thinking.

This should be pretty simple as nothing here is new, just either ready to get traction or being pushed by the right people:

1. Video on Demand finally gets in to peoples homes for real
2. Video on Demand gets a new name
3. Interactive TV advertising
4. BT Vision moves from Microsoft to open platforms
5. DRM free VOD
6. Mobile web (too obvious? Read more below)
7. Nokia Tube turns out not to be an iPhone beater
8. iPhone Nano (I’d buy one, wouldn’t you?)
9. Mac tablet (big iPhone)
10. No one buys Twitter

Mostly web and mobile, but hey that’s what’s selling now, what customers and businesses want and what I like.

2009 will see a lot of e-commerce sites close, merge and hopefully improve.

The mobile web will really take off, in fact I have a feeling mobile specialists will see a huge rise in work. Mostly due to the fact that for the first time developing for mobile is cheaper than developing for PCs. Those not launching commercial propositions will certainly be launching trials.

Other than that, I am certain Apple’s place as the best technology company will begin to shake, through rushed products, lower perceived value for money (no VGA adapter with yet another laptop plug format) and a cut in customer services.

Uncategorized e-commerce, Interactive TV, Internet, iphone, Mobile, usability

Am I becoming obsessed the iPhone? Well its just got worse, you can get a 7 day tv guide which not only allows you to search but also set your Sky+ box to record remotely.
I’ve set my box to record every episode of Top Gear ever broadcast, from the comfort of my hotel room in Abu Dhabi.
It’s got a great UI and it’s been designed to be 100% functional, so a bit dull but hey, who’s going to be showing their mates down the pub how their new iPhone app works???????

Uncategorized Interactive TV, iphone, usability