Stockholm-based Accedo Broadband plans to set up New York offices in a strategic maneuver to get up close and personal with the consumer electronics giants it works with such as Samsung, Panasonic, and LG Electronics. Accedo, which develops apps and platforms that deliver content to televisions connected to the Web, plans to hire as many as 10 staffers within the next 18 months for the proposed New York office, according to David Adams, vice president of corporate development. Adams says it is too early to share all details, but the company sees an opportunity in the city to work more directly with the makers of smart televisions, as well as media companies and advertisers that want their content on those TVs.
Eight-year-old Accedo already has offices in Mountain View, CA, but Adams says being in New York will give the company an edge in dealing with its biggest clients, which all have domestic headquarters in the area. “It’s much easier to get through the politics of a multinational organization when you are there in the office rather than on the phone,” he says. The hires for New York are expected to include technical staff for project management as well as sales personnel.
Accedo is developing a variety of new technologies, including automatic content recognition, which checks what shows and commercials the audience is watching and then offers up apps that are associated with the content. Viewers watching CBS Sports, for example, might get a recommendation for an app that relates to the game on screen. Such technology can help increase attention to features in smart TVs that could otherwise be overlooked. “‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ might build an app you can play along with the game, but if viewers don’t know about it that can be an issue,” Adams says.
The spread of app stores among smart televisions and home entertainment devices like Roku, Adams says, is driving demand for third-party developers such as Accedo to create platforms for content providers. “It’s a big opportunity globally,” he says. Even before it establishes its New York presence, Accedo is deepening its ties to consumer electronics companies in the metropolitan area. Last March LG Electronics chose Accedo to develop Facebook and Twitter apps for its smart TVs. Accedo has also worked with SmartClip, Audible Magic, and Veramatrix to develop content-management systems for televisions. As more televisions are built to be
