The next product featured on The Shelf as part of a five part series for technologies that will make it big in 2008 is internet TV.
In the past home internet speeds have hampered internet TV, as connections have not been fast enough to deliver a reliable service.
This trend is however beginning to change, with half of all UK homes now having a broadband with an average speed of 4 megabits a second. These internet speeds are also increasing, and in 2008 ADSL2+ comes online, offering internet connection speeds of up to 24 megabits a second.
Because of the developments in broadband speed we are also seeing more and more internet protocol television services, and it is not just the big players like BT vision and Virgin Media who are gunning for this market, plenty of smaller operators are also offering a range of services.
Mobile phone operator O2 has launched a successful service in the Czech Republic, and plans to launch in the UK in 2008. Orange is also tipped to enter the market soon too.
iplayer was launched in Beta in 2007 as part of the BBC’s offering, a service that allows people to catch up on the corporation’s output over the web. In November a partnership was also drawn up with ITV and Channel 4 to launch a joint on-demand service.
In terms of domestic broadband sign ups Tiscali recently stated it is signing up broadband customers at a rate of 250 a day, showing the desire UK customers have to get broadband connections in the home.
