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These are the latest Samsung, Microsoft, Google, Nokia/Intel and Apple devices...

Obviously I'm not talking smartphones! But rather a smart box (a.k.a  Set Top).

Can you recognize them?

(there's a prize for first person to write a comment with all the devices, OS, manufacturer)

A year ago we organized our first MiniJam at IP&TV World Forum. In expectation of the Google TV announcement, the world was abuzz and full of promises, Apps on the TV were going to revolutionize the world!

A year later the buzz has definitely disappeared and TV apps have little space in developer conversations. And a few hands suffice to "count" the results from the app bonanza everyone was expecting. Arguably the real bonanza was to be found in the TV platforms. 

Apple TV, Boxee and Google TV are here for the buzz, Samsung TV, Meego and Microsoft MediaRoom play the hiding giants. And I'm sure I'm missing a few. Now, mobile device fragmentation looks so, well, over-hyped.

However...

In preparation to the coming appjam at IP&TV we asked Olga Steidl Head of Marketing at SPB Software to give us a quick heads-up on the state mobile TV today and her perspective on TV apps. If you do not not about SPB, here are a couple of cool facts:

SPB is not a techy or arcane acronym but stands for Saint Petersburg

SPB has a long list of top downloaded apps from their UI shell to the their mobile TV, across all platforms.

SPB is well known for it mobile TV app... What are the typical use cases of TV on mobile?

Good question. We ran a small survey in January on how people use mobile TV. Out of those currently using mobile TV and video services, the most popular places for watching content are divided between home (52%), in-between activities (18%), whilst in transit (10%), work (8%), school (2%) and other. However, United States viewers tend to differ significantly with over 45 percent preferring transportation or in-between activities to watch mobile TV. From SPB TV...

As I peer into my crystal ball I see a year of more growth coupled with higher expectations for mobile along with a few upsets along the way.

The Growth

If you didn’t rest over the holidays, don’t expect to relax anytime soon no matter where you fit in the industry.  We will continue to see more devices, more demand for apps, and more demand for developers. 

It was March when we declared 2010 The Year of the Mobile Developer.  Developers were in hot demand and were finally being embraced publically and vocally as a key piece of the mobile ecosystem.   

With that, we will continue to see huge growth in the number of mobile developers entering the scene.  I do think we will see a combination of really newbie/webby developers, given the rise in toolssuch as AppMobi.   As mobile has now become ‘mainstream’ we will also see more traditional software folks entering mobile.  Expect more development tools and enablers (analytics, advertising etc) on the scene too.  Choice...