Intel's
media group has been on a hiring spree as it prepares to launch an
internet television service later this year, underscoring the chip
maker's seriousness about the new business.
Intel
Media is now looking to add 60 people to its staff of over 300, said
spokesman Jon Carvill. He said the group could number 400 within the
next six months or so, compared to less than 100 a year ago.
In
a major divergence from its core business of manufacturing chips for
PCs, Intel plans to sell consumers a television set-top box that offers
live programming as well as on-demand content in small bundles.
It
will compete with heavyweights like Apple, Amazon and Google that
believe the $100 billion cable television ecosystem is ripe for change.
The service, announced in February, would go further than products
currently offered by Apple, Netflix and others.
But
some media executives and analysts have been skeptical that Intel will
be able to convince content providers to agree to terms that are
attractive enough to make the service viable.
Carvill
declined to comment on the progress of content negotiations other than
to say Intel is engaged with partners and remains confident it will
launch later this year.
Intel Media, led by
former BBC executive Erik Huggers, is looking for engineers experienced
in cloud computing, user interface design and security.
Intel
also wants specialists in Hadoop, a platform used for mining vast
troves of digital data. That could point toward a heavy emphasis on
analysing customers' viewing habits.
Huggers
has said the product's set-top box will include a camera that could be
used to automatically steer content and ads toward specific users.
One
job ad on Intel's website is for an "audience representative" who would
be responsible for communicating with customers via phone, chat, email,
and possibly video. Among the qualifications, "Must be weird."
No comments:
Post a Comment