About one month ago I noted this article in The New York Times noting that while most electronic devices are getting more connected to the internet, it seems that one of the most ubiquitous devices we use, the television, hesitates to make the same move. Then last week while watching the McGraw Hill Digital Hollywood Media Summit, during the panel Bridging TV and Broadband, Martin Kienzle from IBM mentioned an initiative called Internet Television that is being launched with Philips in Germany this April where, “online television will go to the television instead of the PC” and where, “… in the long run the television will evolve as a platform just like the iPhone or the gPhone are actually platforms for applications, much more generic… (not just) for a way to talk.”

IBM also hosted a presentation online this week of its view and strategy of the “Smart TV” market, which I also saw. Feel free to email me (alejandro.sacasa@gmail.com) for a PDF copy of the presentation.

I believe that IBM and Philips are leading the way towards a new product category that will be huge within three years in the U.S., similar to the current trend with smartphones. The technology, the demand and the cost effectiveness for manufacturing such products are already possible. Not only would consumers benefit by adding new features to their television experience, such connected devices would offer addressable advertising and other services. The potential results include higher audiences, more accurate viewership information and increased revenue for the industry as a whole. Not a bad package.