How Will Digital Content Impact the Industry?

Zobo.tv recently took CE Pro inside its showroom in Charlotte, N.C. to offer a glimpse into the emerging technologies in digital content.

Zobo.tv GM Scott Osborne highlighted a custom theater, master bedroom, and kitchen to show how the company is giving clients instant access to content.

Osborne sees a rapid shift taking place toward digital content. But he also realizes that not everyone in the CE market is aware of the opportunities that lie ahead. In fact, a client survey revealed that less than 10 percent had heard of digital content such as Rhapsody, Pandora, and Hulu.

"I would say that it really is the content. It's what people want the gear for," Osborne says. "When people think of our industry, they think of TVs, surround sound receivers, and speakers, and I believe the world is changing.

"It's all about what we're going to use that gear for, not the gear itself. Nobody cares about a TV. They care about watching their favorite sports and movies. I'm trying to turn this part of our business into what people actually want to have in their homes."

Osborne will share his insights, success stories, and obstacles at EHX Spring 2010 (March 25-27, Orlando, Fla.) as part of the Digital Media track. He will be joined by cyberManor president Gordon van Zuiden and Aspen Custom Electronics director of design and implementation Scott Cochrane on the Dealer-to-Dealer Panel " The Media is the Message: Making Money on Digital Content."

An Industry in the Client's Hands

"We've gone into this rapid increase in digital content," Osborne says. "It used to be very slow. Changes took years and now it seems like with the iPhone, when that first came out people started downloading apps and Facebook and Twitter. It seemed like things were moving really, really rapidly.

"I see the entire industry is going to go into an instant access to anything. It was kind of the whole iPhone and app thing and Apple TV that sparked me to think that this world is no longer going to go and rent a video at the video store. It's all going to be instantly in your hands."

The Impact of Digital Content

"Our panel is going to be discussing the future of our business," he says. "I think the old way of the CE channel is dying and we're becoming an IT world. If they don't get on board with the new way of what our customers are thinking, they're going to be behind. This is the only way that they can get an edge and to keep competitive against some of the big bucks retailers is to become a digital company."

Digital Content Won't Wait for You

"If [CE pros] don't [get involved], they're going to be very behind," Osborne says. "If they think that they can go through the next five years selling TVs and surround sound receivers and advertising it that way, they're wrong. Because as soon as the word gets out, these people are going to come in asking, how do I get movies instantly on my TV? And you've got to know how to present that."

Other CE Pro Sessions and CEDIA University classes offered in the Digital Media track include:

• Designing Ethernet Networks
• Digital and HD Video Distribution
• Digital Media: Technology Hot Seat Panel Discussion
• Media Center Series - Optimizing the PC as an A/V Source
• The Insider's View of the Technology
• Principles of IP Networking
• Windows 7: What will it Mean to Dealers?

Access to every session is included in the all-inclusive New Opportunities Pass