“Steve Jobs is a genius. An absolute genius. Not for introducing the world to the iPod, iTunes and the iMac, but for his astonishing ability to make people desire gadgets that they have absolutely no use for,” David Derbyshire blogs for The Telegraph.
“Last night he was at it again. At a press event hosted simultaneously in San Francisco and London, he unveiled a new, small, gorgeous looking entertainment box for the sitting room,” Derbyshire writes.
“Designed to plug into an ordinary television, it connects wirelessly to any computer in the home, allowing the owner to watch video and pictures stored on the computer in the study (or ‘den’ as five year olds and Americans call it),” Derbyshire writes. “The announcement caused the predicted whooping and a-hollering from the American half of the press conference and a more muted snigger in London.”
“Not because it’s a terrible idea, but because of the name chosen by Apple for the prototype. According to Steve Jobs the bright, shiny future of television, the thing that will revolutionise the way the world watches television is called iTV,” Derbyshire writes. “Hopefully they’ll ask the advice of their British colleagues next time.”
MacDailyNews Take: “iTV” is a code name, not a final product name. This fact was made extremely clear by Steve Jobs during his preview of the device both verbally and in large text on his Keynote slides and in the iTunes 7 press release: iTV is the project’s internal code name and will not be the final product name. As a seeing and/or hearing human being, and certainly as a journalist, Mr. Derbyshire should easily have known this information before writing his piece, but then that wouldn’t have allowed him to take yet another unfounded, baseless swipe at Apple.
Derbyshire continues, “I’m always impressed by the ability of businessmen to sell us things we don’t need or want. You know the sort of stuff: shampoo so mild you can use it every day is one. Pre-moistened toilet paper. Or half strength coffee. Or lettuce knives. Basically what Apple have come up with is a box that will cost a couple of hundred quid that allows us to watch movies and television programmes on our television. And we’ll all want one. As I said, genius, sheer gneuis [sic].”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: First The Observer this past Sunday, then The Guardian earlier today, and now this bloody bugger from The Telegraph. What’s gotten into the Brits lately? Did Steve Jobs hop the pond in his Gulfstream and take piss on Big Ben last week or something?
Related articles:
The Guardian: Steve Jobs needs ‘a charisma download, Apple risks being left behind’ – September 13, 2006
The Observer’s iPod FUD: Apple iPod is ‘wilting away before our eyes’ – September 10, 2006
Mark Cuban: Things that are special about Apple’s announcements – September 13, 2006
Apple’s ‘iTV’ strategy – September 13, 2006
How will Apple’s ‘iTV’ work? – September 13, 2006
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’s QuickTime stream of Steve Jobs special event now live – September 12, 2006
NFL and Apple team up to offer 2006 NFL game highlights via iTunes Store – September 12, 2006
If it has no use then why have so many people been waiting to see Apple unveil it.
We all knew it was coming sooner or later. It was obvious the moment Apple released Front Row last year that it was only a matter of time before they would provide some sort of connectivity to the TV, and Front Row would be the interface.
I’ll be getting one soon after it’s released.
Two things this clown’s article tell me about him:
1) He thinks Americans are equivalent to British 5 year-olds.
2) He thinks washing your hair once a day is too much.
Neither gives me a reason to take him seriously.
I’ll take two !
Cheers !
I’ve been meaning to write to the Telegraph about something else too. The reviewed 6 top laptops…and guess what, no Macbook or MacBook Pro.
As regards this guy, just remember than in twelve months time he will be regarded with the same respect as the publisher that turned down the Harry Potter novels!
Just amazing. Apple has a lot of educating still to do.
They forgot to complain about his new shirt–which makes him look rather too thin, wot?
Brits do a terrible job of hiding jealousy. I guess if they called it iBBC that would have been more palatable? Jeez, he made it CLEAR that it was a working name.
The important thing by far–my WIFE thinks it’s neat…
Wow, the Brit rags are really getting in on the “bash Jobs” action, aren’t they?
This idiot probably bitches about CDs and MP3s.
“Why my 8-track player is just fine, why are people buying that useless CD player?”
Technology marches on.
Someday kids will be amazed that we actually drove to a store to look at movie selections, picked one out and brought it home to watch.
“that allows us to watch movies and television programmes on our television.”
Yes, but with the exception of plugging your 5G iPod into your TV, there was no realistic way of getting your digital content from iTunes to the telly, ya daffy bastard.
Hey guys, now look here, I’m British too right. In the same way I regard some of my fellow Brits as complete cretins, you regard some of your fellow Amercans in the same way.
So let’s try not to become to generic about this.
But I do agree that British journo’s are looking like plonkers over this issue just now…!
Washing hair once a day? Don’t the British only bathe once a month or something?
iTV is a great thing. I’d love to have this out NOW, cause it would make life so easy. Just stream videos to a real TV…….amazing. Love you Apple!
Well actually, I have absolutely no need for an iPod. I don’t even have any compressed music. lol. But I want an iPod anyway. So maybe this guy is right.
But … I’m not an easy mark, eh? Just because I do want an iPod hasn’t made me actually buy one. I do frequently go to the store and fondle the iPods, however. ahahaha
plonkers?
wot?
a-hollering?
telly?
daffy?
Dont they speak english in england?
Perhaps Microsoft is pumping payola checks into the UK media figuring that if they can’t have the world, at least they can try for one tiny, cold, wet island?
They’re just pissed they don’t get their movies right now
Chris: “Washing hair once a day? Don’t the British only bathe once a month or something?”
I think you’re confusing us Brits with the French. We’re very clean over here, probably more so than the Yanks.
What seems pretty obvious is that the Brit Journos didn’t bother to actually watch the presentation, their comments appear to be based on what they (mis)read in first and/or secondhand written accounts of the presentation. After all it was around 90 minutes long!!!! Who can afford to spend THAT much time?
The Brits, the French, same difference.
I sent him an email, and he sent me two back. Apparently, he thinks he was being funny, and he knows about iTV being an internal name, and he was actually there, etc.
Winston,
You made me chuckle.
Am I missing something?
What’s wrong with these poms, I know they are often behind the rest of the western world. It’s idiots like these journos that lost the poms their empire. I want one!
Basically what Apple have come up with is a box that will cost a couple of hundred quid that allows us to watch movies and television programmes on our television.
I guess those Satellite Dishes, Cable Boxes, Video Cameras, DVD players, VCRs and BETAMax machines were all just a silly waste of money that serve absolutely NO purpose. What an ass! (a fact easily figured out which his stupid swipe about an interal product code-name…duh!) Next time, pay attention when you’re watching the video, Derbyshire. Do some ACTUAL research before you spout off vitriol that makes you look like more of a ass than you really are…unless you really are that much of a ass.
KenC,
Please post those emails here. No need to keep them all to yourself.
they’re all flame bait and attempting to fatten their numbers a la Dvorak.
just ignore them… and wait… as Apple stockprices rise and they sell more of those useless little items to a waiting, hungry public. then later, when they’re a smashing success email their article back to them.
I think that the responses we’ve seen in the UK are more to do with protecting vested interests. The concept of trusted and impartial news coverage has long gone.
The BBC would feel threatened if a successful alternative to conventional broadcasting were to emerge. In addition, Siemens has won the contract to take responsibility for the BBC’s entire broadcast engineering, satellite and desktop infrastructure.
Fujitsu Siemens Computers is a major European manufacturer of PCs. So it’s hardly surprising that the BBC have problems with the thought of Apple succeeding on any front at all..
Many UK newspapers also have financial interests in TV companies, either in broadcasting companies themselves, or in production companies. They will want the status quo to remain undisturbed.
There are businesses like BT ( British Telecom ) and NTL, who are offering alternative services into people’s homes and of course, Rupert Murdoch has his own newspaper empire and controls Sky TV, the satellite broadcaster.
When you then add the number of journalists ( particularly those on Microsoft’s ‘influencer’ lists ) who can be relied upon to dance to order when Redmond demands it, it’s hardly surprising that a launch like this attracts some negative comments.
It’s always amusing to see how the same mistakes get made across many stories. In this story we’ve seen the fuss about the iTV code name, where they overlook that it’s merely a code name and we’ve seen many of them complain about the term ‘near DVD’ without actually understanding what DVD quality is. I think that it’s very suspicious that all these ‘independent’ journalists are all making the same simple errors.
But I have much more faith in the public than I do in journalists. If Apple deliver the right solution, the customers will flock to it in droves and no amount of dirty tricks from Apple’s detractors will dissuade them.
The Redcoat’s are blathering! The Redcoats’ are blathering!