Next Gen IPTV

IPTV is quickly becoming the smart TV, where viewers are able to pick and choose from real time traffic and weather news, chat, enter polls and get involved with some instant messaging all from the comfort of an arm chair.

However the future may look great, but for the most the services are somewhat limited for now. Although if we look around we can see how the future will look when the service providers manage to incorporate all or some of the applications that are around into the packages available to the public.

You only need to look at the Nintendo Wii to see how a simple remote control can be utilized into a motion sensitive remote, which has all sorts of implications for the future of IPTV.

Other applications like the “Red” button which is available on digital television will also play a part in the future viewing, but it is new applications that will rock the world of IPTV, so what sort of technical breakthroughs could we be looking at for the not to distance future?

Some applications that are emerging on IPTV:

See incoming phone caller ID on the TV screen
Manage phone calls, such as diverting calls to voice mail or another number
Answer or initiate calls via TV remote control and hold conference calls
Read incoming text messages on TV
Track the locations of family members with GPS-enabled mobile phones
Send messages from fixed-line TV to external devices
Display interactive program guides on a PC, a mobile phone and/or a PDA
Program a video recorder from a PC, a mobile phone and/or a PDA
View live TV on a PC, a mobile phone and/or a PDA
Transfer live TV sessions from TV to a PC, a mobile phone and/or a PDA

In order to even contemplate the future of IPTV, we only need to think back five and ten years to see how the internet has changed and more importantly how the use of the internet has changed. Ten years ago the Internet was a completely different place and ten years from now?