I’ve been having conversations with people in the EMEA Telecomms market about Video over IP networks. I came into the conversations mainly from a technology solutions perspective. Mainly because hardware/software based solutions is what I do 
One of the conversations was with one of the executive level managers at at Telecom company in Austria who gave me a bit of a curve ball when he states that his issues weren’t with Technology at all.
“We have the tools to solve the technology issues, IP/Ethernet/software development is something under our control and we can build it to suit our needs.”
His issue was mainly with Digital Rights Management and specifically “How to deal with Hollywood’s Lawyers” so he can get the content he needs to make the business viable.
Add to this another conversation I had today with a man tasked to build “high-revenue per user” and “Sticky” services. He stated that his issue with video over IP is the User Interface. His comment was:
“I have yet to see an User Interface that doesn’t force me to spend an hour trying to find a movie to watch before I even start to watch it.”
Personally I like the idea of Video over my IP connection but I have to agree with both of them. I have yet to see a good implementation of a UI for browsing films online. Even Apple, the Kings of UI, haven’t found a natural way to navigate their Apple TV product with a remote control (that is paramount if you want to conquer the living room).
Apple has introduced a way to navigate with the Ipod Touch that is an excellent way to find media you want to watch, however who wants a $399 remote control?
