In mid-December, the firm ChangeWave Alliance (via SeekingAlpha.com) surveyed 228 consumer electronics industry professionals on trends for the digital living room. The survey focused on the future of "media centers," which they defined as "high powered devices capable of managing a variety of digital content in the living room or around the home."
No surprise that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) dominated responses from industry professionals, receiving 43% of total responses. Other manufacturers in the study included Sony (with 14%), Microsoft (totaling 11%), TiVo (8%), and HP (7%). And this was BEFORE Apple's iTV made its debut at the Macworld Conference earlier this month.
Not only should these living room-based electronics-makers be wary, but Blockbuster, Netflix and other video software providers should keep their guard up, as more and more consumers seem to be betting their future on the iTunes movie store.
The survey also revealed that 16% of the industry pros think that it's "very likely" that iTv will be a "huge success" while 48% believed the success of Apple's iTV to be "somewhat" likely. While only 9% rated the device's success as very unlikely. I think I'll put it higher on my list of cool electronics to purchase for my college dorm room... if all goes accordingly.
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