Ease of use fundamental to IPTV’s success, says Microsoft Senior Director

December 17, 2007 – IPTV has to “fundamentally be one of the easiest things to use” in order to achieve mainstream success, said Sal Arora, Senior Director of Product Management for Microsoft TV, at the recent IPTV World Forum Asia event.

At his keynote address, Mr. Arora emphasised that carriers must be careful not to let technological complexity turn consumers off the new pay-TV platform.  “If we ever want to get IPTV to a mass market, there’s one thing that will always be important: that it has to fundamentally be one of the easiest things to use.  I believe that’s one thing people like about [traditional] TV.

The executive added that consumption preferences have changes, opening the door to IPTV technology.  “There’s a reason why people are switching from the TV set to other places like the mobile [device], the PC and the Internet.  The TV as a device is no longer fulfilling that need for them to be connected with other people; it’s not fulfilling the need for them to get a personal service and they cannot use it to be social with anybody else.”