Why HDTV Is No iPod

In David Card’s self described "N-Thousandth Post On iPod", he gives a very interesting viewpoint about why HDTV, which he argues should be just as exciting as the little white box, has not achieved the iPod boom:

What’s different about HDTV, which has just about the same single-digit US household penetration rate as disk-based MP3 players? How come no one’s jazzed about HD? Here’s a few things that make iPods different:

• One company, one coolness. You don’t see Sony crowing about MP3 players replacing Walkmen.
• New consumption mode of existing content. Carry your whole collection with you. (Buying DVDs of movies and TV shows is like this; HDTV is not.)
• Existing installed base of content. See playing MP3s above.
• Initiator is from outside traditional industry. See Sony comment above.

David Card of Jupiter Research ‘N-Thousandth iPod Post’

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