Kevin Hause, who tracks interactive business for IDC, thinks that it is too soon to say whether Sun will be able to dominate the cable set-top box market, as cable operators are hedging their bets on various operating systems.
Remember those rumors that the networking giant was shopping around its Scientific Atlanta cable set-top box business?
FORBES: Cisco Agrees To Buy Cable Gear Maker NDS For $5 Billion
One half, Motorola Mobility, got the cellphone and cable set-top box units and ex- Qualcomm exec Sanjay Jha as CEO.
If it's something in the living room, like your cable set-top box or stereo, Microsoft could be in trouble.
Write it down: this may have been the day that the cable set-top box business came down with a terminal disease.
FORBES: Did Microsoft Just Kill The Cable Set-Top Box Business?
Cable set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta may be guilty of the most bizarre power button behavior for its digital video recorder distributed by TimeWarner Cable.
In the future, Microsoft could also license Kinect software to TVs and cable set-top box makers just like Google embeds its Android software in TVs to come out with Google TV.
FORBES: Microsoft Accelerates 'Net-TV Convergence With Kinect, Stock Heads To $32
Neither company's effort has done anything to shake the shared stronghold of Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) and Scientific Atlantic (nyse: SFA - news - people ) on the cable set-top box industry.
Yes, there was more on display, but we've decided to spare you the sight of every walkie-talkie, cable modem, set-top box and cellphone in Moto's lineup.
And about 40% more will be able to view the digital signal through a digital cable or satellite set-top box on an analog TV they already own.
But without a digital TV tuner, or a cable or satellite set-top box that can convert a digital signal, consumers won't get any TV at all by 2009.
Apple has been in talks with cable companies about a set-top box for watching television for years, only making some progress recently.
For connected TVs, they are going to introduce new TVs with Time Warner Cable (TWX) that will allow viewing all cable content without a set-top box.
However, Cisco is also facing dramatic declines in orders from cable providers, especially in set-top box business.
FORBES: Cisco Stares Into Traditional Set-Top Box Black Hole But It Just Doesn't Matter
There are reports today that Apple is in talks with cable companies to offer viewers an Apple set-top box.
The ruling looks like a clear victory for subscribers of cable services, long frustrated by awkward set-top box technology and perpetually rising subscription fees.
Not the iTV that lit up conversations last year, but a set-top box used in coordination with cable companies.
FORBES: Why Apple Should Make GetGlue HD A Centerpiece Of Its TV Strategy
Worse is the dilemma posed by Mr Gates, who wants the entire cable industry to accept the Microsoft standard for the set-top box.
Now, for the first time, Allen is competing directly with Gates for the same business: set-top-box software that lets cable companies offer digital video recording, video on demand and, eventually, shopping.
Apple is in talks with some of the largest U.S. cable operators about letting consumers use an Apple device as a set-top box for live TV.
That should unleash some healthy competition: Within a few years it may not be uncommon to buy a set-top digital box that can not only decode cable transmissions, but is also a web browser, a game machine and a DVD player.
The bottom line is that local broadcast channels are available in HD to any cable subscriber with a clear QAM tuner, whether you have a set-top-box or not.
The recent speculation that Apple will move into the set top box business in partnership with one or more of the cable operators sounds like a logical way around this impasse.
FORBES: Tim Cook Again Expresses Intense Interest In TV Market, But Mutes The Real Issues
"Sun has become a premier software provider to the set-top box market, and enjoys a good reputation in the cable industry, " says Cynthia Brumfield, a senior analyst at Paul Kagan Associates.
Rumors have been circulating since at least December that the chip giant is working on its own set-top box and hopes to pair it with a "virtual cable" service that offers unbundled channels.
应用推荐