steve98:dafman:steve98: What makes it commercially sensitive? The only competition worth worrying already has Chromecast support.
I agree, it seems very strange- not exactly the sort of information that would require commercial sensitivity? You'd think Spark would be happy to publish a road map for intended device roll out and timing? As mentioned previously, the only thing I can think of is the possibility an initial exclusivity agreement with Samsung? If so, maybe not the best strategic move with hindsight.
That's a very good point. Samsung's exclusivity-in-exchange-for-free-app-creation is the scourge of development in this country. Lazy, cheap broadcasters selling their online futures for the price of an app. Pathetic.
given we don't know the terms of any such agreement it's really hard to say.
One thing we do know is that samsung is the market leader in smart TVs by a significant margin. If you were launching any sort of service like Lightbox they would be the first Smart TV manufacturer you would go with
So with that in mind, if you were Lightbox (or Quickflix, or Neon or whoever) imagine samsung presented you with a contract that said
"We'll pay for the app to be developed for our range of devices if you give us exclusivity for 6 months. BUT if you don't take this deal we will refuse to allow your app on our devices at all"
so whilst you might not like the first part (exclusivity) if the alternative is to not have your app on samsung devices at all (which make up something like 50% of all smart TVs), I think most people would still take it
Remember that Samsung smart TV apps aren't like google play - it's not open to anyone who wants to make an app. You either do it with their blessing, or not at all.
ID Verified
Trusted
