Half Of Smart TV Owners Don't Bother Connecting Them To Internet

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With the likes of Samsung, LG, Sony and others heavily promoting their new Smart TV products and rumors of Apple coming out with their own “iTV”, it seems that everybody is talking about Smart TVs. But, here’s an interesting fact from market research firm NPD – less than half the people who buy Smart TVs actually bother connecting them to the internet.

According to a market survey conducted by NPD In-Stat, just 47% of Smart TV owners actually have them connected to the internet. Norm Bogen, VP at NPD said that “People are buying connected TVs, but they are not all using them.”

Why aren’t people bothering to use all the innovative new features in their Smart TV? Paul Gagnon of DisplaySearch suggests:

I think that people like some aspects of smart TVs. Social networking and games — those are pretty lightly used. People type on laptops and mobile devices.

If that’s true, then this would certainly build anticipation for an Apple TV or iTV from Apple. The company is known for their innovative and easy user experiences, so they certainly could capitalize on the alleged confusion with the competitor’s Smart TV software. Plus, we all know Apple loves revenue from app sales. Samsung and LG (and others) offer different apps that run on their Smart TVs, so Apple could certainly find a market by bringing the iOS and Mac App Store to a potential Apple TV or iTV device.