Sling Media’s Slingbox has been on the market for a few years but despite the generally positive press coverage and expanding footprint, penetration remains low. Yankee Group’s survey data shows that less than 1% of survey respondents own a placeshifting device with little year over year growth.
The data is not surprising, most consumers see Slingbox as a device for road warriors hoping to catch up on content during their various jaunts around the globe. Sling is hoping to change this perception with the Sling Catcher – a device best used within the home.
I recently hooked up a Slingbox and experienced some difficulty with the original installation software. Set-up of course can be a major barrier to adoption for these types of devices. Sling seems to have addressed this with their new installation software which I downloaded. Before I knew it, my Slingbox was up and running.
After a few weeks of use, I have found my usage of Slingbox surprising. Instead of not using Slingbox because I am traveling I have been using it frequently in my home. While working in my office I will occasionally turn on Sling Player to watch something off the DVR. When on the treadmill, I bring my laptop and watch VoD. While I have yet to sit outside and watch content, that is due to the fall weather in New England. Taking a break at work I catch up on the latest episode of The Office (Mind you, such scenario has yet to be tried – I would never watch TV at work Emily, I promise).
The point is, Anywhere technology can be enjoyed while at home. While some of Sling’s appeal is the ability to watch content wherever you are the world over it really has more practical applications as well. At home uses could be compelling for the broader market, such as The Digital Shut-ins and The Technophytes who like technology but may not be road warriors per se. So while advanced technology like placeshifting may seem uninteresting to the mass market – this example proves that Anywhere can truly be for anyone. Now if service providers would only start embedding the technology into their STBs…