Image source: Front of Consumer Electronics Show, NYTimes

Just a few days ago I reflected on how networked culture is entering a new stage of consumption in which devices are becoming more than anything multipurposed due to the demand by consumers to access the network at all times. The New York Times on January 11 published the article “To Connect to the Internet, Just Turn on Your TV” by Saul Hansell. An article which entertains how people are becoming more invested in access to information than the devices of delivery. Hansell states:

If the most exciting thing about your phone or truck or TV is the Web sites you go to and the software applications you download, then the device itself is less important.

The article clearly exposes how companies who make televisions are trying to make their products appealing as actual objects, while also knowing that people in the end are becoming more concerned with the actual service the device offers. My observation regarding the article is that in the end TV’s are becoming more like other convergence devices that allow users to access anything from e-mail to games, no matter in what area of consumer goods the devices may be primarily being sold.

Hansell’s observation is an interesting point to consider in relation to my views about multipurpose devices facing the need to crossover constantly to provide services more than anything. As I previously mentioned, this will be a major challenge for media strategists when defining the identity or branding of the product being promoted. This trend of information defining the form appears to be in the air, and is definitely a development that will become pivotal in the evolution of web 3.0.