How would you redesign a TV remote?

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How would you redesign a TV remote?

Asked at Google over a year ago

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Roys · Answer 1 · 2019-06-16T23:40:12+0000

How would you redesign a TV remote?

Goal: Increase sales of TVs with a differentiated remote.

The TV remote has not changed much over the years even though entertainment delivered through TV has changed in many ways. The TV remote is still largely designed to accomodate cable TV channels. It is yet another device in the living room with most of its buttons dedicated to cable channels and not ready for the world of Netflix, Amazon Video and pay per view sports events. This should help distinguish the product and lead to market share gains.

Solution

Instead, we should think of something that is more dynamic and can provide a far more adaptive interface with the TV. We are going to build "TV Ninja" - all in one app to control the experience of any entertainment on a TV display.

User Base

Users	Why do they watch TV?
Younger Audience	More interested in consuming content based on their own time, consuming video content from many different sources
Middle-Senior Audience	Cable TV - HBO, etc. still has shows
Families with kids	They consume content of various different types - appropriate for different ages, but parents need to exercise tight control

Select target audience for a more innovative and useful remote control: Younger Audience - has the most dynamic viewing preferences. They consume content from social media. They consume more content but are not effectively using their TV because it is too hard to connect to their content sources, so they end using TV much less.

Needs

Need	#
Needs to connect to all my content - Netflix, Hulu for movies, Facebook Live - for live broadcast from my friends, Pay Per View Sports content	1
Needs to be dynamic - so that as new types and sources of content show up, the remote experience supports these experiences	2
Needs to be personalized - so that my remote reflects my viewing habits	3
Needs to be easy to find content across different sources	4
It should be natural and easy to find and start playing content, without learning about tools and new devices	5
It should be easy to control/setup my entertainment devices all from 1 place	6
It should be easy to follow types of content that I like

Features

Feature	Explanation	Usage	Impact on value prop	Impact on potential TV revenue
TV remote as a mobile app	Most users familiar with mobile apps	Most users	High	High
Video catalog	Most users with their own video sources such as Hulu, Netflix, ESPN, Disnet, Amazon	Most users	High	High
Basic TV App Controls	Start, Pause, Resume	All users	Table stakes	Table stakes
Basic TV Controls	Volume, Sound, Speaker, Network	All users	Table stakes	Table stakes
Entertainment Home	"Home" across sources, most recent across sources - such as next episode from Comedy central + new release on netfix.	Some users	Medium	Medium
Natural Language Command & Search	Natural language command and control, search and discovery	Some users	Medium	High

PM Team · Answer 2 · 2019-05-14T02:53:32+0000

Clarifyng questions

Did the interviewer have a specific customer segment in mind?
Were there any specific goals in mind with regards to revenue or market share that the interviewer had in mind for the new design?
Would this remote be shipped with every TV or a stand alone produce that can be sold as a seperate accessory to enhance customer experience and be sold for a premium?

Customer Segment

Assuming that the remote would be marketed as an additional accessory to well to do customers to enhance their entertainment experience.

Unmet Needs/Pain-Points

Remotes are easily misplaced.
Remotes frequently need their batteries to be replaced.
Voice command recognition on remotes can be unreliable.
Multiple remotes are needed to control multiple devices such as changing TV channels, controlling DVD player etc.
One family member might hog the remote
Kids might be exposed to content not suitable for their ages, if parents can't find remotes to switch the channel in time.

Potential Solution

A TV remote that plugs into the USB port of the TV, and is powered by the same and can be mounted on top of the TV like a webcam. This TV remote would recognize human gestures and voice commands to take relative action. By being always plugged into the TV, the remote would solve the misplacement and battery replacement issues. Also, by being able to recognize hand gestures it would be more reliable than voice controlled remotes due to accent differences. By beng able to recognize the different family members the remote could be programmed to respond to only one family member's gestures and commands or automatically switch to more family friendly content if it detects children in range.

MVP

The following table analyzes the potential customer impact and engineering effort for each of the features:

Feature	Customer Impact	Engineering Effort
Powers from USB port on TV	S	S
Can be mounted on top of TV	L	S
Can recognize gestures	L	M
Can differentiate between operators	S	L
Can switch content when kids are around	M	L
Can operate multiple devices	L	L

Based on the evaluation, the MVP should have the following features:

Can be mounted on top of the TV
Can recognize gestures
Can operate multiple devices

I left out being powered by USB as in the MVP customers could potentially live with another wire connecting to the power outlet. The USB connection would be so that the device can recognize the TV and all devices plugged into the TV.

Summary

In summary, I would recommend coming up with a standalone remote that can respond to human gestures as something that is completely different from what is available in the market and would help solve pain points most common with the TV remote with the MVP of the product addressing the most basic pain points of customers.

Feedback welcome.