In the tech industry, buzzwords abound. The buzzword for today is Òentertainment hubÓ (thatÕs technically two words, I know) and you should all expect to hear plenty of companies throw this buzzword around with impunity in 2002.
The basic definition for an entertainment hub is an all-in-one device for your living room. Think of an entertainment hub as a DVD/stereo/VCR/web surfing/MP3/email/video game machine that sits on top of the TV. An entertainment hub solves the problem of having to buy multiple and expensive devices that take up precious shelf space in your living room. The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year had a first generation entertainment hub prototype called the Moxi Media Center. The Linux/Macromedia-based Moxi MC will allow for you to watch satellite/cable TV, digitally record your favorite shows, play DVDs and have high-speed Internet access without having to buy five different devices. To the jaded reporters who covered the Moxi at CES 2002, it was one of the neatest ideas theyÕd seen since last year.
An entertainment hub is supposed to be the answer to the questions: ÒWhy buy a Sony Playstation 2 that plays DVDs when I already have a Pioneer DVD player?Ó or ÒHow is an expensive TiVo digital video recorder really justifiable when I already have a VCR?Ó or even ÒWhat good is email on WebTV when I have an iMac?Ó Actually, the one question an entertainment hub does not answer is: ÒWho thought this was a good idea to have one device in the living room that everyone in the family fights for control of?Ó
The concept will be put to the test in the spring when a fully-featured entertainment hub will be available from an extremely unlikely source. ViacomÕs MTV channel will launch their own brand of personal computers in the spring geared towards college age computer buyers. MTV is throwing the Òentertainment hubÓ buzzword around when describing this new MTV PC. MTVÕs eponymous computer system will have an AMD Athlon XP processor, flat-panel monitor, fast video card, a lot of RAM, huge hard drive, TV tuner, CD burner, DVD player, high-speed Internet connections and very loud stereo speakers. In a nod to the genius designers at Apple, the MTV PC will also come in a variety of stylish colored chassis.
According to MTVÕs marketing department, the MTV PC is perfect for use in a college dorm. Since space is at a premium in a dorm room, an MTV PC would be the Òentertainment hubÓ for college students. Dorm rooms often have cable and/or computer network connections, so a computer that you can watch TV, play video games and listen to MP3s while surfing the Internet would eliminate the need for separate products. Why bring your stereo, TV, PlayStation 2 and computer when you really donÕt even have room for TV on the tiny dorm room desk? The cost for an MTV PC is supposed to be around $1,800 and will be sold through MTVÕs website.
The MTV PC looks great on paper, but there are a host of incredibly daunting problems I see already:
WeÕve already established that an entertainment hub is a good idea, but some universitiesÕ dorms have restrictions on TV and computer network use. Some colleges frown upon TV in studentÕs rooms while others forbid the bandwidth-draining digital theft of Napster, Grokster and a dozen other Ò-sterÓ P2P apps. Will this make the MTV PC the Òforbidden fruitÓ that every spoiled kid with an authority problem simply must have or will it be an eighteen hundred-dollar Nintendo that sometimes has term papers written on it?
Will the fathers and stepmothers of the core American MTV viewers really pay $1,800 on MTV PCs for their kids? Admittedly, $1,800 for a high end computer is a good price considering that a year ago the high end PCs were all $3,000, but arenÕt we in a recession? ArenÕt those darn tax cuts the evil Republican president enacted not too long ago keeping working class people down? How are the working class people going to pay for both the new MTV PC and college? Will MTV have a Rock the Vote special during the 2002 congressional elections with Senator Daschle vilifying President Bush for refusing to spend your tax dollars on ÒFederal MTV PC assistanceÓ for college students?
There is little evidence to show that electronic devices branded with a pop culture likeness sell. When PTN marketed a Claudia Schiffer Palm Pilot, they lost money and thatÕs not because thin, blonde and beautiful isnÕt ÒinÓ right now. To be sure, MTV will hammer viewers with ÒIf you donÕt have an MTV PC, youÕll be even more hated by your disaffected peers than you already areÓ-type commercials 24/7 on all MTV/Viacom networks, but isnÕt it amazingly hypocritical for these guys to say: ÒThe only way to be different and go against the corporate powers-that-be is to buy our MTV-branded products and express your individualityÓ?
The MTV PC is basically just a high-end PC with an ÒMTVÓ sticker on the side, not an entertainment hub. I spent considerably less than $1,800 when I built the computer IÕm writing this column on and it does almost all the same things that the MTV PC will do. Anyone that plunks down the nearly two grand for one of these MTV PCs probably wonÕt be disappointed in the gee-whiz factor of it, but all indications point to the Sony, Moxi and Microsoft entertainment hubs costing somewhere around $400-$500. It doesnÕt take a marketing degree to know the majority of consumers would rather pay $500 to lounge on the couch than $1,800 sitting in a wooden chair watching a DVD on a little computer monitor in their dorm.
Nobody asked me and itÕs probably too late now, but MTV would have better luck in the Òentertainment hubÓ business by funding the next generation of Moxi MC.
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