“In a company first, Jobs introduced a product that isn’t immediately available—the iTV. Plus: a movie-download service and updated iPods. Apple Computer Chief Executive Steve Jobs made a few out-of-character moves as he unveiled a slate of new products on Sept. 12. For starters, he left the trademark black mock turtleneck at home, instead donning a black button-down. The real shocker, though, was Apple’s decision to tout a product months before it’s due to hit the market,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek.
MacDailyNews Note: It’s not a “company first.” It happens all the time, in fact it even happened today with the new iPod shuffle due in October. It’s happened with Macs several times in the past and with upcoming Mac OS X versions every time. The reason Jobs pre-announced “iTV” so far in advance, in our opinion, was to freeze purchases of such things as Media Center PCs this holiday season. We think it’ll accomplish that task quite nicely.
Hesseldahl continues, “Apple made what can only be called a highly unusual move for a company that forbids employees from even speculating publicly about forthcoming products. Jobs unveiled the iTV, a product he’s hoping will bridge the chasm between those movie downloads and the TV set in the living room. Thing is, it won’t be available until early 2007. When released, it will sell for $299.”
“Where Apple is going—or hopes to go—is territory that rivals have so far failed to conquer. Apple says iTV is capable of moving music, movies, and other content from a computer to a television, or another entertainment device. This would be done using wireless technology—probably some variant of wireless fidelity, although Apple didn’t explain further,” Hesseldahl reports. “Microsoft has made attempts with its Media Center PCs in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard although the combination hasn’t truly succeeded in getting entertainment off the PC. Intel has also made noise about its own entertainment PC concept called VIIV (rhymes with “five”) but little has been heard about the initiative in recent months.”
“Apple seems to be betting that it can teach the motion picture studios the same lesson it taught the movie [sic] industry: Marry the device and the content in a harmonious ecosystem with a simple price structure, and consumers will flock,” Hesseldahl writes.
MacDailyNews Note: Ignore Hesseldahl’s Freudian slip. Substitute “music” and/or “TV shows” for “movie” in his sentence above.
Hesseldahl continues, “One important question left lingering about iTV was exactly how the device will work. Jobs said it will use some variant of wireless networking known as IEEE 802.11, and Apple already has some history with this technology. It was early to deliver Wi-Fi networking products under its Airport brand. But Jobs also said that the iTV will support HDTV video content. That implies the device will use a version of Wi-Fi that is faster and more advanced than the prevailing standard (802.11g), which tops out at data transmission speeds of 54 megabits per second (Mbps).”
“The next iteration of that technology, 802.11n, will boost the data speed to above 200 Mbps, and perhaps as high as 540 Mbps. That would be fast enough to support a high-definition stream, but it isn’t expected to be approved until 2008,” Hesseldahl writes. “Meanwhile, companies such as Netgear, Linksys, and D-Link have been pressing ahead selling gear that is based on competing iterations of early versions of the standard. For Apple, pressing ahead with Wi-Fi technology before it becomes a ratified standard is nothing new—the Airport Extreme line of products used 802.11g before that standard was ratified.”
Full article here.
Steve Jobs gives sneak peek of Apple’s “iTV” wireless set-top box:
Related articles:
Apple eyes living room market with device codenamed ‘iTV’ – September 12, 2006
Analyst: Apple ‘s iTunes+iPod+iTV model ‘the gold standard for the digital home of the future’ – September 12, 2006
The Motley Fool’s Lomax: Apple news ‘mostly underwhelming, with some potential future bright spots’ – September 12, 2006
Analyst: Apple ‘s iTunes+iPod+iTV ‘will be hard for other players to match’ – September 12, 2006
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
Cringely on Apple video experiment, future 802.11n Apple Video Express, Sony TVs in Apple stores – October 14, 2005
Apple pushes for next-gen 600Mbps Wi-Fi standard as member of Enhanced Wireless Consortium – – October 10, 2005
Haven’t seen this question yet, will an Airport Extreme card be all my Mac needs to stream video? Does the path from 802.11g to 802.11n require new hardware or will a firmware update take care of it?
“I hate to be a party pooper but I have a wee problem with the name iTV and so might ITV”
Um, no we don’t , iTV is an internal code name they are using and the final name will be announced later. Steve made this clear right after he announced it.
I think it will be released 12/1 for $199.00. Hopefully there will be two versions. The basic that was shown, and an expanded with 250 gig HD, tuner, and cablecard slot for $299.00. That would be game, set, match, and victory lap, followed by champagne and debauchery.
MW:respect-as in “you must respect my authoritie!”
Who says that the PC version of iTunes 7 doesn’t have the essential Front Row that would be streamed to the iTV built in? The iTV does not have to be running the front row itself, though it could be.
I think AlanAudio may be on to something up there in the server post. I’d love that. It would seem to be tres useful, too.
Here’s my early issues:
1. Wrong size. Doesn’t fit with anything I currently have, doesn’t stack nicely, doesn’t even match colors. Makes me wonder, though – could there be another box to come? Perhaps a hard drive DVR? Maybe a revised mini (or combination thereof)?
2. Unless there are other devices coming to match, this thing doesn’t add much to what the new (just-announced) Tivo Series 3 will be able to do, except perhap stream Apple DRM-ed content, and in fact will do considerably less (Tivo already streams music and photos wirelessly from the mac).
Here’s a good one from our friend Thurrot:
“but overall, iTunes is looking good. I’m ecstatic that my favorite player has gotten better and mostly caught up to the innovative features in Windows Media Player.”
Mostly caught up?
What a dweeb.
Apple doesn’t need a faster WiFi solution to make this work. All it needs is a box connected to the set that can process an H.264 stream. According to Apple’s web site (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/h264/), the H.264 compression standard only requires 7-8 Mbps to transmit full definition HDTV.
People fail to see the beauty. The transmission is two way, not one. You will be able to record Digital/HD from your TV on your Mac through iTunes 8 and then sync with iPods or just watch on you TV.