“It’s important to understand the three parts to Apple’s news in relationship to each other. It’s not just about a new movie section in the iTunes music store but new iPods/iTunes and a way to get content from iTunes to the largest screen in the home. They key to the announcement is understanding that there’s a seamless end to end experience for consumers for consuming digital content both within the home and outside the home. It also re-enforces the Apple vision of the universe with the PC serving as a hub for digital content in the home and it all works together seamlessly. The iPod/iPod are no longer only about music and that’s going to move the bar higher for new competitors from getting into the market,” JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg blogs.
Gartenberg covers:
• iTunes Movie Download Service
• iTV – “In a move that we haven’t seen from Apple in a long time, Apple pre-announced a product that they’re calling iTV. It’s not a set top box per say, but it is a small device with every type of digital input you’d want to get all your iTunes content to your TV set, including music and pictures. While Apple wouldn’t go into details about the wireless technology, they did confirm that this product is designed to work wirelessly and that they are taking the onus on them to make sure the home network works. That’s a pretty big responsibility but we’ll have to wait until Q1 of 2007 to see it working. The price point is $299, which is a bargain if it works as well as it demoed. In the short term, the iPod can still connect directly to TV sets using the dock feature but now there’s a more complete and elegant solution for getting content from iTunes to other places in the home.”
• New iPod, iPod nano, iPod shuffle
• iTunes 7
“Once again, Apple has shown the ability to refresh the line and keep things interesting. The new nano line looks amazing and the updated 5g iPod is more optimized for long form video. As for iTV, you really have to see the UI in action to get a sense of how seamless this works,” Gartenberg writes. “Bottom line, Apple has sold 60 million iPods to date with 1.5 Billion songs and 45 million videos. Once again they have revised their line with devices and services that will be hard for other players to match. Look for competitors to try and change the message but that’s not going to be easy in a market where the message is totally dominated by Apple. At the end of the day, there’s no reason to think the iPod will lose significant market share for the next 24 months. Also, it’s still early in terms of holiday announcements, we might yet hear another one or two things from Cupertino before the first frost hits in the East.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
Apple gives sneak peek of ‘iTV’ set-top box to debut Q1 2007 (with images) – September 12, 2006
Apple posts new iPod nano ad online – September 12, 2006
Apple’s QuickTime stream of Steve Jobs special event now live – September 12, 2006
Apple’s iTunes 7 installer shows ‘iTunes Phone Driver’ as greyed-out option – September 12, 2006
NFL and Apple team up to offer 2006 NFL game highlights via iTunes Store – September 12, 2006
Apple debuts iTunes 7 – September 12, 2006
Apple debuts new iPod in 30GB and 80GB with Hollywood movies, games and new lower price – September 12, 2006
Apple unveils new iPod shuffle: world’s smallest digital music player – September 12, 2006
Apple intros new iPod nano with new aluminum design in five colors and 24-hour battery life – September 12, 2006
Apple is set to become the world’s largest broadcaster.
Cheers,
Tim.
Downloaded itunes 7 and the quicktime update…. now I can’t get to the itunes music store…. it doesn’t load.
MDN word is “alone”…. as in I feel so alone right now.
go Apple and Disney! love those companies!!!
Jim,
There’s a lot of people trying to access the store. Give it some time. Loading pages on the store is quite unpredictable right now.
Mr.Peaboy: “I’m also very disappointed about these things: No wide(r) screen iPod”
Apple would do whatever large screen if it could. The point is that with even that small 2.5″ 320×240 screen iPod can run video only for like 3.5 hours (30GB model) or at best 6.5 hours (80GB model).
5″ 640×480 screen would eat four times more energy what would make usability of iPod truly pathetic. If to add to four-times more heavy screen a battery that would compensate four-time higher power consumption, then weight of iPod would end up in like 250-300g or 10 ounces.
So no, technology does not let Apple to do a handheld device with four-times bigger screen. This disappointing fact has nothing to do with Apple or Jobs.
Quiz
Instructions: Circle the correct answer.
1. Apple digital entertainment is…
a) …cool b) …struggling c) …a joke
2. Microsoft digital entertainment is…
a) …cool b) …struggling c) …a joke
The world based on Microsoft seems to look more and more like a train wreck.
For those having difficulty with the obvious, here is the quiz scoring.
1. a) 50 pts b) 0 pts c) 0 pts
2. a) 0 pts b) 25 pts c) 50 pts
Jim,
THe Store has a tremendous amount of traffic right now. I had problems getting in, but finally made it.
Man walking by other music player manufacturer’s offices:
“Bring out your dead.”
me: “This wasn’t a “Showtime” or a “big event”. This was a modest product upgrade worthy of just happening.”
You probably completely lost the idea. The point is that the world’s biggest base of buyers can now get a unified way to buy and play legally films on new iPods (and on computers, as well as on TVs in few months) — for the first time in history. You can now go to any trip and watch whatever you want, including full feature films.
It is totally new thing, it is milestone in the history of entertainment. Amazon’s attempt to “outrun” Apple with that is formal; in essence you can ascribe the innovation to Amazon just because they announced it few days earlier. And, most importantly, Amazon does not offer consumer experience of iPod+iTunes quality level.
Does Apple have the same desire I have? That is, allowing consumers to purchase live multimedia-programming a la carte from iTunes versus subscription packages set by cable and satellite corporations. Ultimate freedom in digital entertainment is allowing the consumer to decide the live programming that they want, not having to buy one, two, or three subscription packages simply to get the 5 or 6 programs that you really want.
Apple, let me buy the show, films, programs, and events I want, I’ll pay for it.
He gets it! You have to wrap your mind around the holistic approach of Apple. Apple’s consumer electronics approach is a systems approach. It is not just about a device or several devices. It’s a well though out business.
Maczealot: Of course Steve and Apple have the same desire as you- we all do. But who is going to sell Apple the rights to that live content? For example, I would LOVE to just be able to buy a season of Red Sox games from iTunes to stream to my TV, without having to buy cable TV + the NESN sports channel! But, who’s going to OK that? MLB? NESN? Hell no! Because they don’t get it, and are shortsighted- there are Sox fans around the globe, but they would rather have a hundred thousand cable subscribers than a million or more people buying individual games- they can’t grasp the concept yet.
It’s not going to happen until the networks and the cable co.s and the movie studios realize their old ways are dead and gone- no longer are relevant. Until that time, they will be clawing for every last $, with every last breath.
That is going to take a long, long time.
BTW, for those having trouble with iTunes, you may have to update Quicktime first to get it to work right-
I believe the USB port MIGHT be there for two reasons:
1. you can plug your iPod directly into the iTV via a USB cable ignoring the wireless where you either don’t have a Mac (holiday house) or the living room is out of wireless range.
2. the iTV is not Mac Mini-sized by coincidence. I think that if you want the DVR and DTT functions they’ll come via a Mac Mini linked to the iTV via the USB port.
The ethernet MIGHT be to connect to the internet (via DSL/cable) if this is a real Airport express replacement, or to stream over a wired network (think school classrooms, uni lectures, boardroom presentations) where a more reliable connection is needed.
i.e. wireless Mac-iTV is not the only way to stream