Strategy Analytics’ recent user experience study concludes that there is a clear opportunity for developers to fill the need for more advanced TV remote controls, especially as TVs and TV peripheral devices add web functionality to the big screen. In particular we found that there was strong interest in a remote control which integrates a touch screen. Respondents would also value access to a full QWERTY keyboard so that browsing and using web sites becomes slicker than is possible with a standard numerical keypad TV remote. Some specialist manufacturers, such as Logitech, have been developing advanced TV remote controls for many years. While these have done a good job, at a price, of bringing control of multiple products through one handheld device, they have yet to successfully solve the challenge of offering easy interaction with increasingly complex TV interfaces on the big screen. I have also previously discussed innovative approaches from Hillcrest Labs, which we also researched in our latest study. The growing interest in touch screens apparently reflects the increased prevalence of touch screen-based mobile phones and other devices. Consumers are clearly becoming more comfortable with the touch screen experience in general, in spite of certain limitations, and it seems likely that this will find its way increasingly into remote control devices for consumer electronics products. CE manufacturers may protest that people are not willing to pay for these capabilities, but our research suggests that, for more sophisticated users at least, prices as high as $300-400 for an advanced device are not necessarily a barrier to purchase. Twitter: twitter.com/DavidMercer_SA Client Reading: Touchscreen Controllers Set to Drive the Connected TV Experience