During their third quarter earnings conference held by Comcast yesterday, it was revealed that the company's fortunes were looking pretty rosy: Revenue has increased by 7%, operating cash flow and income had gone up and best of all, the was reportedly sitting on $1 billion in cash. With things running so smoothly, you'd think it would be business as usual and cable boxes for everyone. According to the company's CEO, this won't be the case for long. Comcast has seen the future of content delivery, and for them at least, it's a future that belongs to devices like the iPad.
Where many content providers have been shying away from internet-based delivery of premium television and movies in the name of protecting their incomes, Comcast is looking to embrace the emerging technologies that will not only make streaming media content more viable, but also freaking awesome. In an interview with ZDNet, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts admitted that chief among the pieces of tech that Comcast is excited about is Apple's iPad. Taking a big, deep breath, Roberts declared the following to ZDNet:
We are very excited about the iPad. It gives us a chance to start from scratch with a user interface that is using Web technology, not the cable box technology. This week we relaunched Xfinity TV, our authenticated on-demand online service, with a new and I think great marketing campaign. Xfinity TV gives customers online access to 150,000 entertainment choices including movies, TV shows, premium and HD content with a compelling search and discovery platform. All of our digital video customers will receive a customer ID to access Xfinity TV for no extra cost. It’s a tremendous value-added service. And before the end of this year we will be launching the Xfinity TV remote app which will work on all the iPhones and iPads and eventually, right after they come out, on the Android-based tablets. This is an entirely new form factor and device for consumers, these tablets, which I think makes the search and discovery and the enjoyment of television that much greater because we have all been looking for how to navigate these 150,000 choices or whatever the consumer actually has. And this, with the touch of a finger, allows you to change channels as well as to search and discovery. I think you will like it when you get one. So as you can see, we have an exciting roadmap for new product introductions and we are delivering more and faster innovation to our customers. All of these enhancements and new features really are starting to bring to life our Xfinity brand and you are going to continue to see and hear many new products from Comcast in the months and years ahead.
Now if that isn't a vote of confidence in Apple and their ability to change the way consumers view and interact with the everyday world through technology, I don't know what is. Here's hoping that Comcast's putting all of their digital eggs in one awesome basket will pay off for both the company and consumers in the days to come.
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