Media Convergence

In order for the media to converge, two main things need to occur.  First, computers and televisions must be able to be content interchangeable.  That is, computers must be able to view and use television content, and televisions must be able to view and receieve Internet content.  Second, people must be sufficiently interested in being able to view the same content on both device to make implementation of this interoperability commercially viable.  The two are clearly interrelated, since the amount of interest in interoperability people have determines how much they are willing to pay for that functionality.

Before determining whether it is possible to make television and computers interoperable, we need a list of what sorts of content both can, or will be able to receive.  To start, here is a list of some of the content we might see on both the web and digital television in the future:

• Television Content:
  • Television shows
  • Movies
  • Commercials
• World Wide Web Content:
  • Media presentations (scripted presentations of various media objects including text, 3-D graphics, audio and video)
  • Games (non-scripted temporal presenation of various media objects with which the user/viewer can interact)
  • Information blocks (collections of media objects through which the user/viewer can browse)

The Computer

It is easiest to first answer the question of whether a computer will be able to receive television content.  The types of content that are broadcast over television currently, and will continue to be broadcast if the two media do not converge, are audio/video streams.  Since the computer media already includes audio and video streams, it should be able to decode the streams with no extra equipment.  The possible exception to this is the addition of a tuner card to decode the analog signal into the digital stream, but this should be of marginal additional cost considering the cost of purchasing a computer.
So, a computer will be able to receive television content for little extra cost.  Since the cost difference between a machine with this capability and a machine without this capability will be low, even if there is little consumer interest in this, machines will still come with this capability.

The Television

The more difficult question is whether a television will be able to display world wide web content.  It is pretty clear that you can put enough hardware into a television to make it able to display the media that a computer can display.  Essentially you would need to add a reasonable sized hard disk, some memory, and a fairly fast general purpose processor.  How much would this add to the cost of the television?  I will guess at the prices of items six years from now if they are shipping in large quanties.

what is ecommerce?

Electronic Commerce, commonly known as (electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.

In other words, e-commerce is the online transaction of business, featuring linked computer systems of the vendor, host, and buyer. Electronic transactions involve the transfer of ownership or rights to use a good or service. Most people are familiar with business-to-consumer electronic business (B2C). Common illustrations include Amazon.com, llbean.com, CompUSA.com, travelocity.com, and hotels.com.

E-commerce can be divided into:

• E-tailing or “virtual storefronts” on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into a “virtual mall”
• The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data
  e-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers (for example, with newsletters)
• Business-to-business buying and selling (B2B)

Ecommerce Fundamentals

Think Fast

Speed has become less of a problem due to the penetration of broadband, but don’t forget that a significant number of people still shop by a dialup connection. When creating a site framework, designers and e-commerce teams should ensure that the site is developed with pages loading in less than 9 seconds (over a dial-up connection).

Our recommended page size is within 60-70k in bytes. At that amount, sites will likely load within the maximum wait time of 9 seconds. Online retailers should avoid flash at all costs within their transactional site. Flash’s artistic aspects may help you establish a brand presence – but it will likely lose potential customers before they have even searched within your store.

Image is important

Images are a very important aspect of selling online and are often neglected. All product images should be of the highest resolution possible, be much larger than the product page original, and have

multiple views. Dynamic imaging capabilities can improve the user experience to an even higher level by increasing interactivity (zoom &
rotate). At a minimum – retailers should have at least two additional views outside of the product page image to help build emotion.

Be my guest

Shoppers do not like being forced to do anything, especially when they are ready to open their wallets. Forcing a shopper to register on your site before purchasing is a sure way to drive a portion of your traffic to your competitors. Too often, shoppers do not have the time or the inclination to fill out a lengthy form explaining what types of information they desire.

Always offer the ability to checkout as a guest. You will see less customer leakage within the checkout process and can still offer the option to register when the sale is completed.

Make sure it’s “above the fold”

Your homepage is the most important page within your eCommerce store. It sets the initial tone for the shopping experience and offers your best promotions and products to your visitors. Users typically visually scan a web page from top to bottom and then from left to right. All critical content and navigation options should be obvious to the shopper without having to scroll down. If you have your best promotions “below the fold” – you can bet that a large percentage of browsers are not scrolling down to see it.