The Next Big Thing in Green Electronics

Is there a killer app on the horizon for electronics makers?

Maybe, says Stephen Baker: high-definition videoconferencing.

Baker, an analyst at NPD Group and one of the most accurate in the business when it comes to identifying TV trends, says that the prices are coming down rapidly on high-end videoconferencing systems. These aren’t the choppy, slow systems that make everyone look like they are calling from a space station. He’s talking about the ones that provide clear, crisp streams of video of people on the other side of the planet. I’ve seen demos of these types of systems at Accenture and NHK and they are pretty cool.

A few years ago, Hewlett-Packard released systems that cost $500,000. Now, companies can put together a high-definition, high-bandwidth system for $50,000 to $75,000 thanks to Moore’s Law and economies of scale. That price includes the large screen TV, the networking equipment and other stuff. Consumers already have big screen TVs: The prices on the rest of the equipment would have to come down of course bu the fact that they own a TV already helps adoption.

Cheaper systems that could spark first phase of mass market adoption might be ready by 2011, he speculated.

“It is the only thing I see out there” that seems like a next big opportunity, he said.

How is this green? Well, it means there’s less travel. Rather than spend two days out of the office (and several hours at the airport flipping through a lot of magazines you didn’t even know existed) you can just do that 90 minute meeting by videoconference. Granted, you won’t be able to make faces or flip off the phone receiver anymore like you do during conference calls today, but it beats taking another short business trip.

Baker himself racked up 200,000 miles in the air this year, he admitted.

“It would be nice to have a teleprescence in my office,” he said.