CEA's Brian Markwalter Keynotes
2011 NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference

Brian Markwalter, senior vice president of research and standards for the Consumer Electronics Association, presented the keynote address at the 2011 NAB Show's Broadcast Engineering Conference (BEC), on Sunday, April 10, 2011.

In a presentation entitled Change as Big as the Internet, Markwalter told broadcasters that it won't be long before all consumer devices, including radios, may also be Internet devices, and broadband connectivity will be ubiquitous.
"What does it mean to my business when every device, and therefore every customer at all times, is connected to the Internet?" Markwalter asked. This premise should be taken into account by all business analyses today, he believes, and it will have significant impact in every sector of the media marketplace. Any content provider who fails to acknowledge the coming of such realities risks losing a customer, he concluded.

As evidence of this trend, Markwalter cited the recent growth in global consumer electronics (up 13% in 2010, with a forecast 10% rise in 2011), which he sees as largely driven by the increasing demand for a connected experience. "Devices exhibiting the strongest growth are those that are Internet connected and aimed at consuming content," he observed. His data showed that the best selling devices worldwide at present are smartphones, tablets and LCD video monitors, with many of the latter including embedded Internet connections.

Markwalter also commented on the value of technology standards in establishing level playing fields that enable robust competition. He also acknowledged the growing importance of Pandora and other Internet radio services, but added, "Internet plus radio does not have to equal Internet radio." He cited song tagging and other emerging services as applications that will provide new benefits to consumers via the combination of network connectivity and radio tuners, whether this takes place within the same device and in real time, or via the occasional connection of multiple devices.

Other important trends Markwalter identified included what he calls "Sensorization" - the addition of various sensors to consumer devices, particularly handhelds, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and location-awareness - and "Applification," whereby consumers can configure devices to suit their needs by downloading apps. "Not every device is going to have an OS and apps," he acknowledged, "but it's a safe bet that for these content-consumption devices that (broadcasters) care about, that's going to be a big part of the device ecosystem."

Following the speech, Lynn Claudy, NAB's senior vice president, Science and Technology, reflected on Markwalter's keynote. "Extrapolating the market research data Brian presented, his premise that all devices will be Internet connected is clearly a 'when' and not an 'if' question," Claudy said. Interpreting the message that he felt the industry should take away from the speech, Claudy suggested, "Broadcasters can use this inevitability as an opportunity for deep partnership and collaboration with the consumer electronics world, to deliver the converged broadcast/broadband services that consumers will be demanding." But he cautioned, "Getting from here to there will be quite a challenge, so put on your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride."