TouchCast Builds A Foundation For Interactive TV

TouchCast co-founders Erick Schonfeld and Edo Segal, who also acts as CEO, stopped by CNBC's Squawk Box to discuss their innovative app, TouchCast, that's currently free for the

, and is also available through web browsers. "We expect that consumers will be doing a lot of touching. They're expecting to touch every screen that they see these days," said Segal. Segal describe a viral video where a two-year-old girl touches a magazine, and then shows disappointment when nothing happens. She thinks it'll respond to her fingers the way a touchscreen would. Segal believes that in the future, the same logic that the little girl had with the magazine will apply to the world of broadcast with the general consumer's expectations of a television experience. "As people at home are watching this, they will expect to be able to touch every graphic that we see on the screen around us, and interact with it. When you talk about a story pull up some video, they'll be able to tap it, click it, interact with it," said Segal. Segal said that in the future, the Web will transition from a print metaphor into a canvas of HD video. Schonfeld then went on to say that they believe that the iPad will be a precursor to what the TV will be in the future. He's not sure when, but for now, TouchCast will mostly be making it's name on iPad, and in web browsers. Schonfeld said that users can click on anything that is placed into the video with TouchCast. Most things will be interactive, he continued, noting that in the future, tech interaction probably won't be though physical touching, but more likely through hologram, which many developers, including

, are working on.

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While the app is free for the

iPad, functionality upgrades can be purchased. Segal included that this will also change how consumers engage with advertisements, and how the ads themselves are delivered. The technology will also provide an innovation for TV news reporters, especially those in the field.