Browsing the Yahoo! news feeds today yielded an interesting article. The electronics makers of the world are now aware that home networking devices can be a hassle. The article mentions a new attempt to create a worldwide standard for these devices to communicate on. Finally the fridge will be able to tell the TV that you left the milk on the counter. Okay, well maybe not that futuristic, but allowing your mobile phone, pc, Mac, printer, phone and game consoles to use a single standard will eliminate the number of technologies required to connect them all: 802.11G/N, blue tooth, Wi-Fi. The list of effected devices is not mentioned in the article; however, the concept is still young this is no surprise, but it leaves the imagination open to what will happen with a unified standard.
Think of what happens when competitors work together on a single standard, or worse, when they don’t. When two standards are set forth it almost always costs the consumer more. Examine the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray format war. Everyone that bought those HD-DVD players is out of luck because the standard is now Blu-Ray. Now that the format war is over the industry will focus on 1 technology. This focus will hopefully help improve the technology that was rushed out the door during the format war.
Just because we have standards defined or a single format in use does not mean we are in for a monopoly price hike. This is because the companies that produce the equipment to meet the standards will still compete with each other. A home networking standard will ideally simplify the life of the consumer so they don’t have to deal with the technology. Hopefully there is a similar outcome as the advent of the universal remote control.
Think of what happens when competitors work together on a single standard, or worse, when they don’t. When two standards are set forth it almost always costs the consumer more. Examine the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray format war. Everyone that bought those HD-DVD players is out of luck because the standard is now Blu-Ray. Now that the format war is over the industry will focus on 1 technology. This focus will hopefully help improve the technology that was rushed out the door during the format war.
Just because we have standards defined or a single format in use does not mean we are in for a monopoly price hike. This is because the companies that produce the equipment to meet the standards will still compete with each other. A home networking standard will ideally simplify the life of the consumer so they don’t have to deal with the technology. Hopefully there is a similar outcome as the advent of the universal remote control.
Labels: news
