... No, imminent reality!
Poised to pounce on European consumers is Ikea’s new Uppleva TV set, on sale in selected Ikea stores throughout Europe as of July 2012. The [otherwise normal] TV will offer viewers a built-in shopping and payment solution for a range of different Ikea products.
The underlying technology, the brainchild of German company Connept, prompts viewers to press the red button on their Ikea TV’s remote control during select ad spots. The TV then launches a browser window, prompting registered users to enter their password and confirm their order as illustrated by this [German language] video.
The exact details of Connept's implementation on Ikea’s TVs remain under the wraps.
Connept didn’t reply to GigaOm's request for comment, and the middleware provider that has implemented the technology on the TV sets declined a request for an interview.
Ikea itself [in archetypal Swedish mystic mode] à la Emanuel Swedenborg and Ingmar Bergman failed to respond in time to comment on its new baby.
Read the original unabridged article here.