These days, it seems as if people have the mentality that anything that's not touch screen is old. Anything that's not digital is old, and should be phased out. For a while, Samsung must have thought the same about the good old TV remote control. The Korean tech company, has, indeed, planned to oust the traditional device. But the scheme has been axed, according to reports.
The plan has been about turning the remote control into a tablet TV controller. Slash Gear has reported that the established tech company intended the project to be the star of its TV lineup for the year. The plans have been trashed, however, because of conflicts among those who work in the project. Content rights have also been an issue that compromised the team and the scheme. The project is called the Samsung Perfect Experience or Samsung PX.
The team behind Boxee, which Samsung acquired two years ago, is working at the helm of Samsung PX. People behind Samsung's smart TV did not even know that the project is being worked on. Samsung did not bring the Boxee team to South Korea and it made PX a standalone venture which stayed in New York. Executives also started to doubt the possibility of the project effectively materialising, with people working on it a long distance from the company itself.
Concentrating the TV control on a tablet, Perfect Experience could have been a guide for live content and on-demand shows. PX did not subscribe to the idea of incorporating a trackpad to the device, or simply just making it a flat controller with a screen and animated buttons. It had been originally slated for a 2015 launch, which was then moved to early 2016.
Samsung has not made a direct comment addressing the issue. Reports indicated that many employees have left as a result of putting off the project.
Apart from the traditional TV remote, Samsung has also been reported be looking into phasing out the SIM card, following Apple's lead. Adding to the technology ease out is Siri's new feature of turning voicemails into text messages. It may only be a matter of time before tangible devices and other ancient ways of using them become obsolete. With the TV remote plan axed, consumers will have to wait and see which among their old things will either be gone or digitalized next.
