“Everyone who has TiVo loves TiVo; it is to television what Macintosh was to computing — a revelation,” John Battelle writes for Business 2.0.
MacDailyNews Take: The Macintosh still is a revelation, John. Just ask anyone forced to use Windows at work who chooses to use Mac OS X at home.
“Which is exactly why Apple should buy TiVo and once again redefine the intersection of culture and technology,” Battelle writes.
“Folks love TiVo for the same reason they loved the Mac in 1984 and the iPod in 2001: It gives control back to the end user. TiVo viewers call the shots regarding when, how, and — soon — even where they watch. Once content or access is purchased, the end user is in charge, just like with the iPod,” Battelle writes. “But unlike the iPod, TiVo and systems like it are in serious trouble. The culprit is the entertainment industry. TiVo has an abeyant Napster-like quality — and the content business is scared silly that it will not only destroy advertising revenues but become the platform for video swapping on the Internet.”
“With a depressed market cap and nearly 625,000 customers, TiVo is a steal. Jobs would have to unwind some messy licensing agreements, but he’s done that before. His next step would be to apply Apple’s design elegance and create an ‘iTV’ device that integrates with Macintosh OS X, the Internet, and your cable or satellite box. Talk about a revolution. Once Apple turned on the marketing and PR offensive, we’d have one hell of a Hollywood drama unfolding. And with Jobs in the lead role, it’d be awfully fun to watch,” Battelle writes.
Full article here.
That’s so crazy it just might work! LOL! OMG! 11!!1
Looks like a logical step on from the ipod.
Imagine being able to watch any tv programme from the finder in OSX and then be able to record it to your hard drive and wirelessly stream it to a tv in another room!
WOW!!
except that apple has publicly stated that they WOULD NOT incorporate tv into the mac.. ppl don’t watch tv on the computer..
BUT that doesn’t mean they can’t keep tivo just the way it is.. and soup it up with QT integration.. and airtunes syncing
I love them both, but it may not be economically wise for Apple to buy Tivo. I’m afraid Tivo may well be a sinking ship that not even Apple can save, but then again, the same has been said of Apple now for over a decade and they’re still going stronger than ever!
Oh God, please let this happen. Tivo’s the greatest thing since Webvan, and I’m still mourning the loss of that company.
this could be the platform for the iVideo Movie Store. Hook up your broadband connection to your TiVo, download a movie, and watch it on your TV. This is probably where subscrption based downloads would come into play. (e.g. Download as many movies as you like, but they delete themselves after 3 days)
Too bad Jobs hates TVs
TiVo desperately needs Apple to do this but Apple never will.
Heck, if someone is going to buy Tivo it might as well be Apple.
This will never happen. Apple would not buy TiVo, but rather make their own version as competition. Except Apple wouldn’t charge on a subscription basis. People like to own stuff, not rent it.
People don’t want their computers to be telivisions or their telivisions to be computers for the most part. The “convergence” will not happen. Bad idea.
Hum, my neighbors just got Tivo and I have to say that it is pretty cool… HOWEVER, I have EyeHome and EyeTv at my house, and it’s reallt cool also. I understand that the navigation of Tivo is much better than EyeHome, but seriously I prefer EyeHome…
“People do not want to watch TV on their computer”, ehmm, I was a die hard believer till WWDC in San Francisco this year.
There I had the chance to compare prices with plasma TVs and the gorgeous 30″ Apple display.
Guys, THAT thing is gorgeous! Watching TV on that one – in addition to DVDs – using a nice dual G5 must be absolutely awesome and costs much less.
AND, it would not feel like you are wasting lots of money just to watch TV programs: You are getting an awesome computer+30″ screen combo.
I need a dedicated HD for recording TV and I want to be able to play it in a corner of my Cinema Screen — at decent quality — whatever it’s called.
The target audience for the TiVo is not the average person. They are people who are comfortable with their computers. The average person today who has a TV will want to watch it on their TV with their stereo system and larger screen. There is no expandability. All new TVs will be flatscreen and projection, the technology is still changing to HDTV and has a few steps to go after that as well. There is no generic code for satellite boxes or cable boxes. To let this trend smolder on is a mistake. Let it go, we got DVD players in every new Mac. There are better alternatives.
Apple will never buy TiVo (even if there are alot of exApple employees there and lots of contacts), Apple will (eventually) design and build a successor to TiVo. A media server. Why buy old technology when they have the smarts to go beyond.
me likey
steve make it happen….and send my damn dual g5 eh?
I thought TiVo had more subscribers than his numbers suggest?
It might be good but I don’t know. I’m afraid Steve would try and put OS X on it instead of Linux and then raise the price to $1000 for the unit by adding a lot of cool features.
“People don’t want their computers to be telivisions or their telivisions to be computers for the most part. The “convergence” will not happen. Bad idea.”
But studies have shown that people do want to record TV and manage those recordings from their computer, and take it with them on the road.
So convergence is ahead – tho you’re right there will not be a TV tuner built into a Mac.
My take is Apple is preparing for the coming changeover caused by people switching not only to HDTV (new digital TVs which has already started) but to HD-recorded content and the need for new HD-DVD players (i.e.,Blu-ray, which has not yet happened).
My guess is Apple will sell a home server capable of serving HD-quality video streams wirelessly to multiple displays, HD-recording via connection to a set-top box (cable, satellite, broadcast TV tuners), and wirelessly connecting to the Mac/PC for scheduling/control and video content via internet, etc. They also need to solve the multiple remote control problem.
“The target audience for the TiVo is not the average person. They are people who are comfortable with their computers.”
Maybe so – but my mother is 79, the only computer she uses is an ATM, she can’t figure out how to make a call on a cell phone – but she LOVES her TiVo! She records every episode of “The Price is Right” and ‘Wheel of Fortune”. LOL. She is also a huge music fan – she has over 300 CDs – mostly stuff from the 40’s and 50’s – and she really wants an iPod! Don’t rule out those old foggies!
Personally – I so wish this would happen! TiVo said they want to compete with Broadcast, Cable, and Satelitte by offering content to download off the web. I don’t know if that’s an option yet because most connection speeds in the US are too slow to download video in a reasonable time. I’ve heard Asia has much faster connection speeds. Still – I for one am hoping convergence will happen.
I have some Tivo Stock that has not been doing well. It would be cool if it rolled over into Apple stock!