Qwest's Ed Mueller continues to plot his own course and wants the telco to focus on developing a new interface for home digital services. In an interview with Telephony Mueller said the interface was the key enabler for new services to the home. "There will be an interface, it will look like an iPhone, perhaps, that you can scroll through to do everything you want," Mueller told Telephony. "Everything I've seen in my lifetime, the technology has been the forerunner, but the interface has been the enabler. With computers, the integrator wasn't the Internet, it was the browser."
According to Mueller the iPod created a new user interface that became the definitive way of downloading music and then video from the Internet and now the iPhone is becoming a new means of doing mobile content. "The home interface is still yet to come, but this is where I want Qwest to play," Mueller said. The Qwest CEO has recently ruled out taking the telco into IPTV.
The home hub is set to be highly competitive with CE manufacturers, software houses, Internet giants and service providers all jockeying for control for the key gateway to the home as residences and businesses move to an all IP platform. For the providers--telco's and cable MSO's--their full-service business model assumes control of the home digital hub. But consumers are already facing offerings from all the major players --Microsoft with its Internet enabled Xbox 360, Sony with similarly enabled PlayStation (plus Blu-Ray), LG which is partnering with rental house Netflix, plus a number of set-top box developers--with Internet adapter boxes as low as $100.
For more:
-Qwest CEO: It's the interface, stupid. Article
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