WHITEFISH, MT / September 15, 2014 / Most people today have a smartphone or a tablet on them at all times. People are checking them in the bathroom, at the dinner table, walking down the street, while watching television, etc.; it is a veritable addiction. So has the market hit critical mass? That depends on perspective. Emerging markets still have room for growth. Stateside, not only are there still many people without a smartphone or tablet, but current users are not afraid to open their wallets and buy the newest models when they hit the markets. Consider that Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 6, which is slated to be shipped later this week, is forecast by venerable Apple analyst Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets to generate sales of about 65 million units by the end of the year, making it the biggest launch ever for an Apple product.
The perpetual usage of mobile devices has companies such as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Apple, and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) elbowing to grab consumer’s attention in the OTT market, which refers to video, TV and other services delivered via internet, rather than a service provider’s (cable, satellite, etc.) dedicated network. Nothing explains the traction being gained by OTT services versus pay TV companies better than the public sparring match between Netflix and Comcast (NYSE: CMCSA). Although they offer different types of services and some analysts don’t actually consider them true rivals, Comcast says it needs the acquisition of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) in order to complete with an OTT company like Netflix on a national scale. Netflix opposes the merger, saying the new Comcast would have too much control over broadband. As Netflix and others have captured millions of paying members in recent years, Comcast has ramped up its offerings of streaming programming available on mobile devices in a bid to compete for customers that demand usage away from the home. Further proof of the market potential can be found in last week’s announcement by Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ) CEO, Lowell McAdam, of the company’s intent to launch a Web TV product next year, a move widely seen as an attempt to compete with Netflix and others.
Where is the Future of Television?
People aren’t going to box up their televisions in favor of tablets or smartphones, but how and what they receive on their big screen TV is certainly looks like it is going to change. New and more immersive technologies are already making their way into our homes. The NFL made headlines this year with players being outfitted with sensors on their shoulder pads to enhance the user’s experience and collect data from games. The National Hot Rod Association made history last year in partnering with The Guitammer Company (OTC: GTMM) and ESPN2 to broadcast races essentially in "4D," allowing fans at home to feel the rumble of the dragsters in their own living room using the company’s patented tactile broadcast technology. They put sensors on dragsters that captured the real time force and vibration and those signals were added to the broadcast as a separate stream of data, alongside the audio and video. The data activated Guitammer’s wireless “Buttkicker” device at home and delivered those reverberations to the viewer’s couch giving them the feeling of being in the car.
It is hard to say that the complete future of more immersive, personalized big screen TV viewing is now here, but it is fair to say that the start of the evolution is. Wearable sensors have quickly swelled to an $18 billion industry that is setting the direction for users to be able to one day pick a player and actually watch an entire game strictly from that player’s perspective, while "feeling" the tactile energy that player does.
Guitammer has important, and now proven, Intellectual Property that makes home viewing more immersive. And, taking this technology to the next level, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported that the NHL’s San Jose Sharks are teaming with Guitammer and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area to televise this season’s Sharks’ home games with Guitammer’s "4D" technology so viewers can “feel” the energy from a slap shot or a check into the boards.
Guitammer is positioning itself to license this broadcast technology to other larger consumer electronics manufacturers so that they can provide consumers all types of home hardware to provide the 4D experience at home. This allows Guitammer to focus on further development and deployment of the broadcast technology. While sales of its ButtKicker brand home hardware can help support GTMM corporate in the short term, licensing agreements are far more lucrative and can produce multi-channel recurring revenue streams. As part of its development, Guitammer is working with the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE), with the goal of developing standards for the broadcast of haptic-tactile information. The potential of standards for how this type of information and data is broadcast could put the company in an enviable position.
Furthermore, taking advantage of the growing interest in and demand for new OTT services, Guitammer has been planning for a system whereby fans at home could, for a nominal fee, "pick their player(s)", activating the sensors on that player and "play as" that player. Talk about taking fantasy sports to the next level. This commercial ecosystem is already set in place as consumers have become completely desensitized to making on-the-spot payments to get what they want instantly. Think about it. How many times in a month do consumers click a button and automatically have $5.99 taken from an account to pay for a movie or touch another button to authorize a 99-cent payment for an app. It’s so common that consumers barely bat an eye at the idea anymore. An example of this type of personalization comes from the race world where the INDYCAR 14 mobile app by Verizon already lets users pick from multiple choices of in-car views and pit crew chatter during races.
The marriage of legacy television, OTT offerings combined with the ubiquitous second screen device and the latest technologies is here now. Other players are certainly going to emerge as rivals, but with the patents in place and the technology proven, it looks like Guitammer is well positioned to enhance the next generation of television.
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SOURCE: Emerging Growth LLC