Timely analyst thought pieces on issues pertaining to digital media, home networks, and consumer electronics.

The recent news that Microsoft has licensed Flash Lite had more than a few people scratching their heads, wondering why would Microsoft license a technology just as they are pushing their own competitor to Flash in Silverlight, which they are planning to bring to mobile later this year? Well, it may be surprising and send mixed signals, but clearly this is nothing new for the software giant from Redmond (just think about Zune and the company's Windows PlaysForSure efforts for PMPs).

I actually applaud the move, as it clearly will give them an advantage vis-a-vis Apple, which has been eating Microsoft's lunch when it comes to usage of the web on mobile devices. Clearly Microsoft has been paying attention to the growth rates for the iPhone in web usage, which have been quite astounding; web tracking sites like Net Applications put iPhone total web hits above that of all Windows CE devices for the month of February 2008. The stubborn refusal of Apple to license Flash for the iPhone is a clear self-imposed chink in the iPhone armor, one which Microsoft is smart to take advantage of. While you can get access to some YouTube videos on the iPhone since Google/YouTube has done some encoding of video in H.264, the vast majority of web video today is in Flash and, as a result, cannot be played on the iPhone. It's a curious position for Apple since they claim the iPhone gives users the Internet in all its full glory, but in reality users will continue to be disappointed until they decide to push Flash Lite on the device.

Microsoft, on the other hand, is showing some flexibility and not letting their own efforts to compete with Adobe trip themselves up in competing with Apple. This flexibility could be a lesson for other groups, in particular the eHome group. The eHome group, responsible for Microsoft's Media Center and Media Center Extender, has seen its own Media Center Extender efforts meet with lackluster results over the past few years. While not all of the efforts can't be chalked up to limited media format support, I think that having support for Flash content on the Media Center Extender would result in a much wider array of content available to consumers of these products. Today a consumer using the Online Media portion of Windows Media Center is limited to a pre-arranged group of choices, all of which offer libraries of content encoded in Windows Media format. The mere fact that YouTube isn't available on Online Media through a Media Center Extender must speak volumes to any consumer who wants to use the device for accessing Internet content in the living room.

So I think if Microsoft really wants to light a fire under its own Media Center platform, they could follow the lead of their Mobile division since they are clearly seeing momentum for competiting products. While Apple's own Apple TV hasn't changed the world for living room connected CE as some predicted, the fact it has YouTube content is a very clear differentiator. The thing is, if Microsoft were to put Flash support on Media Center Extender it would mean potentially putting the full YouTube at its consumer's fingertips, not a smaller H.264 sub-set which Apple is offering.

Coppergate Acquires HomePlug AV Assets of Conexant
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Wed, 7 May 2008 13:32:58 EDT

HomeGrid: Believe It or Not, Another Physical Layer Home Networking Standard
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:06:19 EDT

NAB Wrap-Up: Why NAB is Now the Most Important Show for Convergence (and not CES)
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:25:04 EDT

The Blockbuster Box? No, thank you, but...
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:07:17 EDT

FubuHulu? Facebook Meets Hulu and I Like It
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 18:49:32 EDT