Intel Viiv will have to be “idiot-proof” to succeed

VIIV, pronounced jive, should be spelled Vive but isn't, because to spell anything in a way people might find easy to pronounce goes against the millions of marketing Think Tank dollars that went into coming up with a misspelling in the first place. Regardless, it's Intel's great white hope for finally getting PCs into every living room - the holy grail of future shareholder profits. Intel has just announced 40 content provider partners that are busily beavering away at making their downloadable music, movies, TV shows and games compatible with the forthcoming slew of Viiv PCs - due next quarter. This means a Viiv user can visit these providers - including Sky - and download any Viiv-marked content and know that it will work on their system without any messing about. It's a step in the right direction but will it be enough?

PCs have managed to make it into some living rooms over the years, but mainly those of single blokes. Girlfriends and wives never really warmed to the big, hulky lump of gray plastic revving away loudly in the corner and spoiling their Habitat-appointed living space. So, along came Media Center PCs, the first batch of which looked exactly like normal PCs but ran an OS more user-friendly to the TV/VCR generation. Unfortunately, they failed the girlfriend/wife test too. And their marketing was crap. And they were still too complex. And too expensive. And (and this is the last ‘And'), it didn't help that the bulk of the running was left up to PC builders and Microsoft, with Intel forking out little more than lip service over the past three years. For a company that preaches evangelically about the digital home, it's been suspiciously tight with the cash needed to boost the profile of Media Center PCs.

It quickly became apparent that for PCs to enter the living room they had to look like anything but PCs, be simpler to use and a lot cheaper. So now, they look like DVD players and set-top boxes, the functionally of the OS has improved along with ease of use and the prices hover in the £700-£1000 range - which I feel, still makes them too expensive for many people. While they are proving a more popular sell, it's still a slow, tortuous process getting folks excited about them. Never mind parting them from their precious cash.

Can Viiv do for living room PCs what Centrino did for notebooks? Maybe, but the markets are very different. Intel is rumoured to have a war chest of a few hundred million dollars to get Viiv into people's heads - just like that damn five-note jingle. If it doesn't then it can slink back to the IT sector and inform its shareholder that the world's living rooms proved too tough to conquer. However, not all the cash in the world is going to guarantee success if Viiv doesn't do something about idiot-proofing. The problem with PCs - whether they are slabs of grey plastic or dinky, brushed aluminium boxes running the Media Center OS, is that they are too complex for most consumers. That's why consumer electronics devices have ruled the living room. From VCRS and hi-fis to DVD players and recorders, simplicity is the key. Most consumer devices only have one, two or three primary functions. Record and play would sum up most TV/music devices. Even easier-to-use Media PCs offer too much. This complexity has resulted in them been very hard to sell. Dixons and Comet now have dedicated Media Center PC sections - away from the PC section - to try and lose that nerdy, techie, and frankly, scary IT image. Being on the High St. is a good profile booster but it all depends on how they try to sell them. I have it on good authority though that they've been coached on keeping it simple: TV recording, music downloads, games, Internet and photo editing. Good plan.

Apple is hoping to snag its own share of the pie too with its heavily rumoured Mac Mini media center. The company is being typically quiet but details are emerging. Thank God for disgruntled employees. It's obvious Apple wants, and needs, to get out of our pockets and into our homes. With consumers driving most growth, who wouldn't?

Viiv has a long, long way to go. Intel knows this. Why else would it launch a high profile technology after Christmas? It's because people aren't ready yet and will need at least a year (or more) exposure to marketing and products before committing. If they do at all. TVs and set-top boxes now come with broadband connections and hard drives. Standalone DVD/HHD recorders sport jacks for camcorders and memory card readers. These devices cost much less than a Media PC/Viiv PC, and will continue to do so. Yes, they do a lot less than a Viiv PC will but just look around the living room. That's what most people are used too, want and are comfortable with. µ