“Merrill Lynch said Apple Computer seems a likely candidate to build an entertainment server based on its iPod, iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD and AirPort Express products. ‘If the PC loses out to the game console or entertainment server, there will be winners and losers,’ Merrill Lynch said. It listed IBM, Sony and Apple as potential winners, while Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Dell would be possible losers. ‘Even if successful with Xbox, Microsoft may have more to lose given its PC dominance,’ Merrill Lynch said,” Forbes reports. “The research firm added that it’s premature to know which device will become the centerpiece of the digital family room of the future, saying it doubts that PCs will win because they are too complex and unstable.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if IBM, Apple, and Sony emerged to dominate the digital home and the mediocre Microsofts and Dells of the world were swept away into the dustbin of history? It certainly would be wonderful for the average consumer.
Aside from the distinct disadvantage of having a pathetic clueless female CEO without any of the brains of the founders, HP is still an awesome company. Of course most cash flow is now generated by the printer portion of the company.
I miss the genius of HP, their calculators were awesome, but perhaps there is still more hope for them than for other “so-called” computer companies.
Companies with a true research base and forward thinking products, should survive or at least merge with others … e.g. IBM, HP, Apple, Sony with Sun a distant last (in danger of disappearing!). Sony has to reinvent itself, and so does HP.
Dell is not even in the race … maybe they could merge with Microsoft … crap-hardware with crap-software … a marriage made in he… oops the crap-box. Excuse my French …
My mac is set up to be a pretty good ‘entertainment’ unit as is, so anything new they come up with can only be better.
Bill–
the mac costs enough as it is. If you wanna play games get a $200 xbox or playstation.
I think bill has a good point. You can’t win the digital entertainment war with out games.
The next play-station I heard is suppose to be like a TiVO dealy and DVD and CD and games.
Kid/teens put the most pressure for an entertainment system, and kids/teens want games.
However, god damn, if a mac system came out, I will order a year in advance and pay any ridiculous price. (drools….)
as for $100 mark….
Value of stocks owned: $1,000
Value of being able to tell your friends “I told you so”: Priceless
What i would like to see is a stripped down version of OSX powering a machine that has at least two but possilby four removable SATA drives. The box could come with one 160GB drive as standard and then users could just add extra drives or replace the drives as and when they needed to. they could use a G4 processor to drive the whole thing to keep it ultra quiet and have built in airport (upgradable as well) and a network port.
Throw in two or more TV tuners into something with Apple’s usual design flair and I would guess you would have a winner.
MCFFR >> I will be moving to London in the first quarter of 2005, so your’e on. I shall bring a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue label. That OK?
hahahha this article suggests the apple put a stripped down version of linux *possibly* … or (gee) Apple’s own OS.
talk about hell freezing over..
ph8te:
Given what it costs over here (about $270/bottle) – damn government duties – bring it on.
Ben: In other words, what you want is an xServe Lite box based on the old G4 architecture.
Replace the G4 with one/two Freescale processors, use an extensible motherboard/daughterboard architecture for TV tuner cards, home theatre audio, etc. and you’re away.
With the exception of the Freescale components, this is excatly what I proposed on an AppleInsider forum about a year ago.
I feel totally giddy when I consider Apple’s future. Now all i have to do is get out of this country, that is so anti-Apple that its unbelievable. in the last two weeks there were consumer reports on the iPod and both TV stations said that the iPod was totally overpriced and underfeatured. But then if you consider how Germany has slipped over the past few years, what else can you expect. i spoke to a professional photographer recently, who thought that Apple had gone out of business. Apple needs to do some serious PR work here in Europe. My suggestion is to have like mini exhibitions in the major shopping streets (malls are kinda frowned upon here in Germany) and let the public know that they still exist. Hell, I would volunterr to spend a couple of Saturdays doing some demo work for Apple. That would really show those PC-Nuts.
And in parting, a look into my crystal ball:
“Micro-Who?”
and
“Dell?!? What’s that? Can you eat it?”
I agree Aryugaetu, Apple will enter home entertainment in a big way when Airport can stream video. I think it will be server-based and the home-server will be a plain ‘invisible’ box …wall mounted in somewhere like the cupboard under the stairs etc. It will be the gateway into (and out of) your house for everything (internet, TV, radio music etc), which it will distribute wirelessly (and without a Microsoft-type fuss) to its appropriate terminals.
Twenty Benson, I also agree, but why would you want to hide an Apple product?
It’s always been Apple’s philosophy and what makes the company great… any hardware or software which it isn’t necessary for the user to see (and deal with) is removed from view. I think the ONLY contact users will have is (initially) through a preference pane and then a special ‘home-server’ folder on the desktop/TV screen corner/iPod screen etc.
A M-L analyst had a meeting with Apple in Cupertino during October. After that, he write a report and predicted the iPod photo and a flash player were coming. No need to guess, he was there and obviously was either told or saw things.
Apple has made “selective” leaks to Wall Street from time to time and this was one of them.
Time will tell, of course, but Apple has always indicated additional digital devices were coming.
Are you sure Apple will come out with such a device? I thought it was positioning the Mac as the “digital hub”. Anything that replicates what you can do on a computer will hurt Mac sales.
It’ll Never Happen…and even if it did, apple would be last to the table with an offering….
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1677195,00.asp
It seems logical to me And the server will be a Mac. The terminals will be iMacs (with Airport cards), TVs, HiFis etc (with Airport Express). Apple knows there’s absolutely no need at all for the Server to be a visible object in people’s lives – just as there’s no need to see – or interact with – a boiler room in a building in order benefit from the heat it produces and keep warm.
From the very beginnings of Mac, Apple have ALWAYS been concerned with getting rid of ‘stuff’ which the end user has no need to encounter and complicate their lives with. The iMac and iPod is a current embodiment of that philosophy – which is why they make people happy and why the Wintel alternatives make people frustrated.
Good design isn’t primarily about looks – it’s about the lack of obstacles to a stated primary function.
Because Apple makes money on hardware unlike Microsoft, it can sell an entertainment server as a “peripheral” to a PC or Mac.
Since the eServe or PowerPod would not come with a keyboard/mouse (it is operated with a remote control), it would not be a device for information/ entertainment production, just for local storage & consumption, like your stereo, TV, or TiVo. You would use it to listen to iTunes music, watch time-shifted TV or digital movies, look at photos, etc, and it would cost around $300 to $500.
For the near-term, a Mac would still be required for full access to Web services (Mail, Safari), and for creating or enhancing your digital products (Garageband, iMovie, iPhoto, Keynote, iDVD, etc.)
Unlike Microsoft, Apple does not need to push its OS into the living room; rather, it’s goal is to push the MPEG-4/Quicktime/AAC/PDF formats so that reliance on Microsoft Office and Windows Media formats are reduced, while making the Mac and Xserve the best tools to create and serve MPEG-4/Quicktime/AAC /PDF content.
Note the entertainment server’s pedigree is the iPod Photo, not the Mac. It is a consumer electronics device with networking capabilities, but it is not a personal computer.
The goal is clear functions, no crashing, immediate response on startup, menu driven with very simple data entry like channels. Even though a Mac is much closer to these goals than a Windows PC, it is still not in the same ballpark as your stereo or TV.
Kmark – although Apple can sell an entertainment server as a ‘peripheral’ to a PC or Mac (desktop), it will in fact be the ‘hub’ to a network in which all PCs and Mac desktops will be the ‘perimeter’ devices being served by the hub (as will be HiFis, iPods, cameras, printers, TVs etc) . Although each device will be able to function in its own right. This could also lead the re-emergence of very localised version of network computing… ie everyone in the house could have a very cheap Mac ‘dumb terminal’ driven wirelessly from the hub.
all this talk about an Apple game system reminded me of something down right ironic.
The latest build of Microsoft’s X-Box 2 contains very fast processing chips, which are in fact a variation of the PC 970 chip.
Translation: X-Box will use G-5’s
IRONY!!!
As far as i’m concerned, “nomacforyou,” Apple and IBM already proved themselves, and Microsoft will admit it even if PC magazine won’t.
ph8te…
I hear ya. Same here in Australia. No ad, marketing, nothing. Nobady has a clue about the phenominal popularity of the iPod, or the sharp rise in Apple stocks. Nothing. We don’t see TV or radio ads. Unless you have time to sniff around news sites on the web, here in Oz you don’t get to hear about it. I suppose we’ll get ‘The Store’ one day. Then people will slowly start to realise.