Home-Market wares Set To Hit U.S.

A slew of international manufacturers are set to launch IT-based products for the home market in the United States after having launched similar strategies in Asia, where home broadband use is much more prevalent, said executives at Computex 2004 in Taiwan last week.

For example, CyberLink, a Taipei-based developer of digital video software, is pursuing U.S.-based partners to distribute the upcoming 4.0 release of its PowerCinema software, which allows users to control DVD, TV, photos, audio and other media from a USB-powered remote control.

"We are looking for system builders, OEMs"people who want to go into the digital home"to bundle our solution," said Manel Ma, assistant vice president of marketing at CyberLink.

The digital home drew attention at Computex from the opening keynote, when retiring Acer Chairman and CEO Stan Shih said he is positioning his company to focus on the digital home.

"Twenty years ago, the PC changed the work environment. Today, I think the trend of the digital home will change every facet of our lives," Shih said during his keynote. "PC companies have to develop more easy-to-use products [they] need to expand their service networks to home users, [and] more channel availability is needed."

Consumers want a 4-in-1 solution that includes TV, PC, DVD player, recorder and audio, said Tsutomu Sanada, personal computer technology executive at the Toshiba Personal Computer and Network Company in Tokyo.

"Components connected individually is an obsolete idea in the home. The next generations will have dedicated cable connections replicated with a simple IP connection [and] each device connected to the network via cable or wireless," Sanada said.