Web-connected TV: App makers feel daunted

Bangalore: By the end of this year, Americans will own more than two million Web-connected TVs, which let users access online services such as Pandora with the same remote control they use to switch channels. Yet while developers have managed to create a wide range of apps for mobile phones, they are worried by the prospect of building software tools for TVs, reports Douglas MacMillan of BusinessWeek.

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There is no easy way to create an app that can run on the wide range of sets, says Forrester Research Analyst James McQuivey. "Nobody wants to get in the business of developing separate widgets for Samsung, LG and Sony," he says. In addition to all those TVs, there's a growing range of set-top boxes, each with its own software. There is Roku and its Channel Store, which offers movie-streaming services from Netflix and others with handy tools, like a Facebook photo viewer.

To companies such as Internet music provider Pandora, each new outlet for TV applications presents a further opportunity to reach a fresh audience. The Oakland based company makes its free program available on almost every TV set and box on the market and says its TV business currently adds up to about 500,000 users. "The foundation is there for those numbers to start growing exponentially," says Tim Westergren, Pandora's Founder and Chief Strategy Officer.

Internet giant Yahoo! proposed a solution in early 2009, when it announced that new TVs from Samsung, Sony, LG, and Vizio would come equipped with its Connected TV software, which is open to all developers. So far the multidevice service is getting into homes - Yahoo says more than two million sets have sold with Connected TV - but the apps are slow to come. Only about 35 full-feature apps are available on the service, according to Russ Schafer, Yahoo's senior director of product marketing. TV makers are now unveiling their own app stores. In January, Samsung introduced Samsung Apps; during a Super Bowl commercial, Vizio pitched Vizio Apps. Both systems are generally compatible with Yahoo, but not all apps made by third-party developers will work on all TVs.