The TV market needs a refresh. And luckily, the days of channel guides, five remotes and regular TV are coming to an end.

Welcome to the era of the SMART TV. Apps, internet connection and gesture based controls – it’s like a super computer in your living room.

Just this past weekend, LG released their new Smart TV – complete with a Nintendo Wii-like remote, app store integration and most importantly, internet access.

Samsung recently released their own Smart TV, which, like the xBox Kinect, allows you to interact with the TV using gestures, voice control and facial recognition. And many sources believe that the new Apple iTV will include iCloud and Siri integration. You’ll just ask your TV to pull up an app and you’ll be good to go.

But what do Smart TVs really mean to the tech industry?

First, Smart TVs provide opportunities for communication between devices. Multiple manufactures are already working with communication networks to launch smartphones and tablets that can communicate with their new Smart TVs. Additionally, wi-fi connectivity allows Smart TVs to act as a hub, exchanging data such as documents, music and pictures with other devices. Your TV can become the center of your living room, displaying a slideshow of your family or playing music directly from your computer.

But it doesn’t stop there. Bluetooth 4.0 technology connects devices almost instantaneously. With Bluetooth 4.0, developers can build games that use your phone or tablet as a remote. Imagine playing a racing game and tilting your phone to control the car.

Smart TV is the new frontier for app developers. Already, Samsung TV has over 1,400 apps, ranging from fitness to social networking apps. According to Samsung over 20 million TV apps have already been downloaded! A larger screen, 3D capabilities, gesture based controls, bluetooth and wifi-connection all give app developers an entirely new set of tools to work with.

For example, Flingo is developing an app that allows you to “grab and then fling” content from one device to another – opening doors for users and advertisers. Imagine watching a youtube video on your phone, walking into your living room, and flinging it onto your TV. Or let’s say you’re watching an ad on your TV, and you want to learn more about the product. You could fling the content from your TV to your smartphone, and learn more without disrupting your show. Advertisers could also offer discounts for purchasing the product directly through your TV or Smartphone.

Another great Smart TV app is LG’s Dual Play function. The Dual Play app enables two players to see different screens on the same TV. Instead of having to split the screen, now multiple gamers can have a full-sized experience at the same time. The TV transmits two separate images that can be viewed through two different sets of polarized glasses.

This is just the beginning. It’s only a matter of time until developers start considering TVs an important platform. Once that happens, the rest is history. Stay tuned.

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