07:04 pm - More from TiVo - Desktop 2.3, TiVo Central Online goes AJAX, Viiv, and HME wormholes!
So, the Series3 box is the big news everyone has been waiting for, but it is hardly the only thing TiVo is showing at CES. — As I posted yesterday, TiVo put the sign-up for the 2.3 Desktop beta …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Series3 Cable Card unit is what pulled crowds to TiVo's CES booth, but the company also used the show to lay out its software agenda: sign-ups for the Desktop 2.3 beta opened just ahead of CES, TiVo Central Online is being rebuilt as an AJAX interface, and demos paired TiVo with Intel's Viiv platform plus new "wormhole" hooks for HME applications.
Read together, the announcements sketch a two-front strategy — the Series3 hardware answers the cable-company HD threat while the desktop, browser, and developer-tooling moves push TiVo toward being a PC-and-web companion rather than a standalone set-top box.
First-order effects
- Subscribers get a faster browser-based scheduling experience through the AJAX TiVo Central Online rebuild, plus a first look at Desktop 2.3 through the open beta sign-up.
Second-order effects
- The Viiv demonstration gives Intel's home-entertainment platform a recognizable TV brand to point to, pressuring rivals like Microsoft's Media Center ecosystem on the PC-to-living-room bridge.
- HME wormholes lower the barrier for outside developers to link applications across the DVR and the desktop, seeding a third-party app layer on top of the recorder.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the DVR stops competing purely on tuners and storage and starts competing on platform openness — who hosts the app framework and whose web interface owns the schedule.
The trend: DVR makers are turning recorders into connected platforms, where the web interface and third-party application hooks carry as much strategic weight as the hardware.