Some VERY interesting marketing points in the article cited at the end of this post…
But first, what is 4KTV anyway? I’ll let the straight-talkin’ folks at Sony explain it:
“4KTV is a TRILUMINOS display tech that pushes how far a TV can produce natural color, along with Motionflowâ„¢ XR 960 technology to make movement in-frame almost impossibly smooth.â€
Now, hold on – “almost impossibly smooth?” I’m pretty sure you can’t get smoother than that. Think about it: If you did, you’d be doing the impossible! But here’s what you can do: the ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE.
Damn that sounds cool! I want It! I NEED IT!! GIVE IT TO ME!!! NOW!!!!
Admittedly, acquiring all that TRILUMINOS-ness does come with a price-tag. Models currently start at around $5000. So, now here’s the part that actually interests me even more (well, almost more…) than this apparently “explosive” technological wonder: namely, the psychology that WILL make you buy it. History has repeatedly taught that it’s (usually) unwise to bet against genuine innovations (and apparently “4K” is actually a legitimately quantum leap forward from HD).
Consider:
- Cars will never outsell bicycles… From an 1899 Edition of what was apparently a highly regarded publication at the time, The Literary Digest:  “The ordinary type of “horseless carriage†is at present a luxury for the wealthy, and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.â€
- A practical purpose for rockets? – Ain’t gonna happen…  A 1920 editorial from our friends (well, our dead friends…) over at The New York Times: “It is when one considers the multiple-charge rocket as a traveler to the moon that one begins to doubt . . .â€
- Internet shopping – Who’d possibly do that? Time Magazine in 1966: “Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop – because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.â€
- Television – You’d be wasting your time even to dream about it… Lee DeForest, one of the most respected “technologists of his day†(admittedly “his day†was 1926) but still: “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.â€
And then there’s HDTV itself, now virtually ubiquitous, which numerous mainstream commentators believed could never make it as a mainstream product. In sum, people are fundamentally drawn to game-changers. It’s just in our nature to crave these sorts of things which is why Sony probably didn’t waste its time (or money) dreaming up 4K. Let’s say it one more time . . . ALMOST IMPOSSIBLY SMOOTH . . . If you don’t want that, you’re absolutely not cool enough for FrazerRice.com.
So get ready folks – Because there’s some Motionflow XR 960 TRILUMINOSITY comin’ at ya!
[“Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Trust Naysayers When It Comes to 4KTV, Studio@Gawker, 6/14/2013â€]