IS INTERNET TV IN YOUR FUTURE?

By M.S.Welles

Ernst & Young recently released a study showing that Internet TV is poised to take off and go through tremendous growth as viewers become more comfortable with running widgets on TV screens.

Light applications are already successfully run on mobile phones and computers through the use of widgets.

When widgets are used on TV they are specifically designed to pull selective content from the Internet to complement TV watching.

I've used a widget to get local weather through Verizon and my family uses a widget to get sports updates on the various games taking place throughout the country. Other widgets allow viewers to purchase advertised products from online stores.

The Ernst & Young study found that many viewers found it an appealing idea to integrate TV with information from the Internet.

Although it's anticipated that Web-connected TV shipments will total less than 500,000 for 2009, according to the Ernst & Young study by 2013 the sale of Web-connected TVs could top 6 million.