“With the Apple TV now shipping, the question remains: will people want one and, if so, what will its impact on the market be? The question is whether Apple will rise to the top, or be swamped by the existing solutions,” Bryan Gardiner writes for PC Magazine. “Can it carve out a niche?”
Gardiner reports, “Unsurprisingly, vendors of existing products don’t think so. In fact, Jeff Binder, senior director of Motorola’s Connected Home Solutions, said the Apple TV unit might very well turn out to be what he characterized as a ‘dud.'”
“‘It’s orders of magnitude less interesting than the iPod,’ he said of the new Apple TV. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be a big dud, frankly, but it will give [Apple] a lot of knowledge. They’re an innovative company; they’ll learn from their mistakes.’ When asked if Motorola was worried that Apple TV would challenge (or move in on) the set-top box market, Binder didn’t seem too troubled. ‘I don’t really think [our set-top boxes] compete with it at all,” he said. “I’m a big fan of Apple in the computing market…but just generally really I don’t see it as a competitive product. It’s a pretty nifty gadget, but it doesn’t change the way we watch the television. It’s different than how the iPod changed the way we listened to music.’ Binder went on to say that there are three keys areas where Apple TV fails: as a PVR (personal video recorder), in HD (high definition), and its lack of support for video on demand,” Gardiner reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple TV also fails as a major league pitcher, but it doesn’t try to be one, either. Ditto for the PVR. HD can be turned on at the iTunes Store level (when both bandwidth and content providers’ comfort becomes more plentiful) and, indeed, Apple TV is capable of HD (1080i) right now. Apple TV does not lack support for video-on-demand (quite the contrary) – it’s just not being used by Apple beyond movie trailers and short clips right now.
Over a year ago, in January 2006, Technology Review’s Daniel Turner astutely asked, “If Front Row can stream movie trailers from Apple’s website, why not whole movies?”
And, just two days ago, Walt Mossberg wrote in his Apple TV review, “Apple TV’s most important limitation is that it can’t stream much video or audio directly from the Internet — yet. The capability to go directly to the Internet, bypassing the computers in your home, is built in, but is initially being used only to fetch feature film trailers and short preview clips of popular songs, TV shows and movies sold on the iTunes store. Apple TV also won’t allow you to buy media directly from the iTunes store. You must first download content from the Internet or iTunes on a computer, and then Apple TV will grab it from the computer and play it on the TV. In its usual secretive fashion, Apple refuses to say if or when this direct-to-the-Internet capability will be expanded. But we fully expect Apple to add the capability to stream or download a variety of content directly from the Internet, and that this new capability will be available on current Apple TV boxes through software updates.”
Gardiner continues, “Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, takes a different view, saying that comparing Apple TV to other solutions likes DVRs and is actually unfair. ‘It’s like being in the market for a car, and comparing a Toyota Prius to the Sequoia,’ Gartenberg said. ‘If you’re looking at the Prius, you’re certainly not considering the Sequoia. I just don’t see [Apple TV] as competing with those products at all. What this is really about is leveraging the platform that iTunes has become…getting that content to the most important screen in the home: the TV. If you’re a part of that ecosystem, this is product form you,’ Gartenberg said.”
Full article here.
We can smell that Motorola lackey’s fear through the Internet. It’s a rational fear. 110 million iTunes users and counting. 110 million. Surely, he can see that there’s more to Apple TV than immediately meets the eye. Apple’s future moves are going to be very exciting in this space!
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV specs:
• Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile
• Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes Store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV
• Photo formats supported: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG
• Enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TVs capable of 1080i 60/50Hz, 720p 60/50Hz, 576p 50Hz (PAL format), or 480p 60Hz
Related articles:
Analyst: Apple TV will change the TV business – March 23, 2007
G4’s ‘Attack of the Show’ host Olivia Munn licks Apple TV – March 23, 2007
Xvid fully functional on Apple TV – March 23, 2007
Apple TV does not require Widescreen TV or HDTV, works with standard TVs – March 23, 2007
CBS looks at Apple TV on ‘The Early Show’ (with video) – March 23, 2007
Scoble: ‘Apple TV rocks’ – March 23, 2007
Apple TV hard drive upgrade works – March 23, 2007
Apple TV dissection photos – March 22, 2007
Apple posts Apple TV User’s Guide online – March 22, 2007
Enderle: ‘Apple’s attractive and well packaged Apple TV likely to set the pace’ – March 22, 2007
David Pogue demos Apple TV in humorous NY Times’ video – March 22, 2007
PC Magazine review gives Apple TV 4 out of 5 stars – March 22, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue: ‘Apple TV offers a gracious, elegant, effortless, delightful experience’ – March 21, 2007
Mossberg hands-on with Apple TV: ‘beautiful design, easy-to-use, classic Apple: simple and elegant’ – March 21, 2007
Apple TV projected to surpass TiVo, Netflix – March 20, 2007
Former Microsoft ‘Enthusiast Evangelist’ Gartenberg looks at impact of Apple TV – March 20, 2007
Apple TV ships – March 20, 2007
Apple shares rise on positive Apple TV analyst comments – March 19, 2007
Analysts: Apple to ride Apple TV + iTunes ‘Trojan horse’ into living room – March 19, 2007
Will Apple TV be even bigger than iPhone? – March 19, 2007
Apple adds 720p Apple TV high-definition export mode to QuickTime – March 19, 2007
Apple planning to buy Miglia to add DVR capabilities to iTunes and Apple TV? – March 17, 2007
Miglia debuts TVMAX+ Mac PVR, TV tuner, content provider for iPod, iPhone or Apple TV – March 16, 2007
Piper Jaffray expects 2 million Apple TV units to be sold in 2007 – March 16, 2007
Apple TV ships – March 15, 2007
Solution providers expect Apple TV to be hot seller – March 15, 2007
Apple TV could help kill traditional TV ads – March 14, 2007
Apple TV manufacturing ramp up to begin as early as today – March 12, 2007
Why Apple TV is more important than iPhone – March 12, 2007
Apple TV concept may eventually catch on with consumers – March 12, 2007
Apple CFO talks Apple TV, iPhone, Leopard and retail (link to full transcript) – March 07, 2007
PC Magazine: Why Apple TV matters – February 23, 2007
Bear Stearns: Apple TV and iPhone have changed the Apple story for the better – February 21, 2007
Deutsche Bank: Apple TV could take 30% of set-top box market within a few years – February 21, 2007
How do Apple TV and Elgato’s EyeTV work together? – February 16, 2007
Apple embraces casual gaming; iPhone, Apple TV to join iPod as gaming devices – February 09, 2007
Former GM of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade: Apple TV to become video game console – February 08, 2007
ZDNet’s Graham: Apple TV hits a number of sweet spots, poised to make a big impact – January 25, 2007
Is Apple out to kill cable television? – January 25, 2007
RUMOR: Apple TV sales blowing away Apple’s internal expectations – January 25, 2007
Steve Jobs: Apple TV is the ‘DVD player for the 21st century’ – January 22, 2007
Apple TV beats out iPod, hits top spot on Apple Store sales chart – January 19, 2007
Report: first batch of 100,000 Apple TVs to ship this month – January 11, 2007
Steve Jobs moves to control the living room with Apple TV – January 10, 2007
Analyst Bajarin: Apple’s iPhone and Apple TV are industry game changers – January 09, 2007
Apple premieres Apple TV: movies, TV shows, music & photos on your big screen TV – January 09, 2007
RUMOR: Apple may enter video game market – December 05, 2006
Could Apple become king of game consoles? – September 26, 2006
If Front Row can stream movie trailers from Apple, why not whole movies? – January 06, 2006
I love Apple, but I agree with the Motorola executive.
I like my Tivo thank you very much – I don’t really get the iTV thing and I would also like to see GPS in the iPhone before I seriously think about buying it.
Just my 2 cents.
Who gives a flying eff what Motorola thinks about the Apple TV? I’d like to take my Motorola phone and beat this guy about the head an neck until he understands that it sucks.
I expect that, through iTunes upgrades as opposed to aTV upgrades, that everything from on demand rentals, to direct access to sites like YouTube will become available. aTV is a computer, don’t forget, which means infinitely upgradeable in terms of features. And again, more than likely, it will be additions to iTunes that add features. The association with a Trojan Horse is utterly appropriate.
‘I don’t really think [our set-top boxes] compete with it at all,” Binder said.
Truer words were never spake – but in the opposite way Binder meant them.
I have a couple of HD camcorders and Apple TV has turned out to be just what I needed to view HD clips on my TV without having to burn discs and all that jazz. It’s good that it lets you get shows and movies off the iTunes Store, too. But, for me, it’s like having your Mac tied to your entertainment center, which I once did but didn’t quite like during the times that I wanted to do other stuff with my computer, like messaging, word processing, page layout, photo and video editing, etc. Not quite ideal at TV display resolutions.
Apple TV lets me have the cake and eat it, too. Without having to spend on an extra Media Center computer for the living room. Or wire the whole darn place, etc. etc. Get the drift?
Whoever fails to see how this empowers people to get the most bang from their investment in home computer and consumer electronics is an idiot by definition.
This guy Binder should know one when he sees one. God knows that the software on every Motorola phone I’ve ever seen has certainly been a “big dud” too.
Hmmmm,
My Apple TV does not have 4 wheels, and cannot take me in the mud, snow and ice. What kind of crappy SUV is this anyway!!
My Apple TV is very small and does not have long wooden legs. I cannot put much food on it. What kind of crappy dining table is this anyway?
My Apple TV does not have leg holes, torso hole, draw string or pockets and is not waterproof. What kind of crappy swimsuit is this anyway?
Please guys, it is not meant to replace your $35 DVD player, VHS, or DVD burner. All of which can be bought cheaply from some one else.
ne.
Translation: I HOPE it’s a big dud.
What he said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be a big dud.”
What he meant:
“I will be humbled if it isn’t a big dud.”
“I will be fired if it isn’t a big dud.”
“It’s no surprise that I often pull my pud.”
I love my iPod because I don’t have to purchase tracks from the ITMS if I already have them in another popular format like mp3. This is the major drawback to the Apple TV as far as I can tell. One cannot reasonably provide video from other sources (read BitTorrent xvid or divx) to the Apple TV. And this is why I’m not interested in purchasing it. Support popular formats, and I’ll buy one.
Problems with the selling of AppleTV:
1. Apple does not know how to properly advertise its products. It relays mainly on free P.R. and customer user buzz.
Apple TV is tough to advertise – it does not click immediately as to why one must have this.
2. The iPod sold so well because everyone that owned one showed it to the world everyday. More people saw, asked about it, wanted it bought it.
You can´t do that with Apple TV. It´s a little $299 box that sits hidden away by the TV.
3. A household only needs one AppleTV (if that). With iPod it is potentially a sale for each family member. Same with comptuers (everyone in our house has their own computer or two). You only need one AppleTV.
4. Apple does not know how to advertise (repeat) where is the big ad campaign to back up the intro of Apple TV? Did I miss it?
This guy knows all about duds — Motorola built the DCT-6412, perhaps the biggest piece of crap in the universe.
Motorolla is skating to where the hockey puck was the last time they looked. Apple skates to where the puck is going to be.
“HD can be turned on at the iTunes Store level (when both bandwidth and content providers’ comfort becomes more plentiful).”
**************
There’s no reason that it can’t be turned on right now.. Microsoft is offering HD/5:1 surround content with it’s xbox live store. Apple should as wel. The quality of content is by far consumers biggest gripe regarding this solution.. And quite frankly, it is a legitimate gripe. The video offerings from iTunes are subpar both visually and sonically (no surround.) It didn’t stop me from buying an Apple tv, because it’s great for my music and photos, but I will not be purchasing video content until the quality is acceptable for a widescreen high definition tv.
Is it any wonder that Apple has so little competition when you consider how little vision its competitors/detractors evidently have?
I would also like to see GPS in the iPhone before I seriously think about buying it.
Isn’t GPS supposed to be a standard feature in cell phones today, mandated for 911 service?
Hmm, wouldn’t a GPS iPhone and Google Maps / Google Earth make for an interesting combo…
As for relevance to Apple TV? The iPhone would be a sweet, button-free remote control (actually, it could be a remote interface).
Why feed my HDTV with sub dvd video quality and pcm (stereo only) movies and tv shows from iTunes. Sorry Apple but when you have HD content and at the minimum 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound, this is a waste of a product. Apple TV is an overkill product for the content you sell on iTunes. Give me content worthy of purchasing Apple Tv and I will be on the bandwagon. Until then I will stick with OTA Broadcasts and DVD’s and Bluray with Digital 5.1 sound.
My AppleTV is awesome! The quality looks amazing. If you have older original content, with the smaller resolution, it will look distorted on the TV. If you purchased newer video content, at the current resolution, the video is very impressive. It’s just like an iPod with Front Row for your TV.
The streaming is wonderful. I didn’t notice any hick ups during playback. The only steaming problems I encounter was from HD Movie Trailers while my AppleTV was synced for the first time. It was a minor buffering issue. After than, I noticed no issues. The streaming was flawless.
My complaints about the AppleTV:
1. Why no Photocasting/streaming? I think it would be simple to pull photos from a synced iTunes library. Future upgrade. Minor complaint.
2. Slow wireless transfer. I have the new Airport Extreme (my first extreme) and an “n” mac. I’m coping over 30 GB of data. I let it run from 10:30 pm until 8:30 am. I still need to copy over 1GB of photos. I don’t know if it is a distance issue, but the AppleTV said there was a good signal strength. My Extreme is in the basement and the AppleTV is on the second floor. Maybe that is the cause. I’m not sure. There is the Ethernet cable if you want to preload your AppleTV before you move it to another location in the house.
3. Small HD. Even though it says 40GB, it’s 32GB. 8GB difference and what a difference it is. I had to be picky with what I copied. Barely had enough room. There is the rumored HD upgrade that’s possible. Proceed at your own risk.
4. Upload order. The upload order is Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, and Photos. If space is needed, files are deleted in reverse order. I wish I could control the order of uploading. I’d prefer Photos, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, then music. Again this can be fixed with a Future Update. Minor complaint.
5. It gets hot. The whole thing. This is becoming an issue with a lot of Apple products. Future Firmware upgrade?
6. No power button. Because it gets hot and for power reasons, I don’t want to keep the AppleTV on all the time. So I have to unplug the AppleTV from the outlet. I’ll even take a simple Sleep option from the settings. I sure the sleep option can be added with a future firmware/software update.
Overall, the AppleTV is a great buy. Think of it as a 30GB iPod for you TV. The images are spectacular.
*** out of ****
“They’re an innovative company; they’ll learn from their mistakes.”
Yeah. they learned a lot from Motorola’s mistakes too!
Anyone noticing that it’s really iTunes that’s the trojan horse, here? It’s becoming a main program for people to use with respect to personal entertainment. In some ways, it’s more important than the OS. It’s a way of working into M$’s establishment and taking over from within.
I’m not with you, Adboy. If Apple could only figure out how to market its products, it would sell billions and make millions. Wait…
1) Apple ads and ad campaigns are apparently hated by many (at least in online tech-centric forums), but the company is selling well and profiting. Peanut gallery MDN comments aside, results are what matters. You could argue they could advertise better, but their financials are pretty good.
2) There weren’t many iPods in the beginning, and remember how the product was initially received in many parts. Remember the famous slashdot article — something like small HD, no wireless, and too expensive — lame. Hmmm. Apple will ramp advertising as the product catches on, it learns what resonates with users, and as the ITS evolves (such as selling HD/720p content).
3) An Apple TV addicted household will definitely need more than one. Or maybe you are right, and I should return my second cable set-top that descramblers digital signals, allows HBO, and enables on demand content upstairs.
4) Hey, if it sells great without a campaign, margins are only better. Those big campaigns do cost millions. As you know, spend your marketing money wisely, not foolishly just because someone online tells you to.
I have my Apple TV set up, and I’m already bored a little. It’s nice to be able to sit in the living room and play music and podcasts, but I won’t be buying any movies anytime soon at the current low-res codec on iTunes. It’s also frustrating that I have to pay for TV shows I can already record for free. I have an EyeTV that records the video, and I can export to iTunes format. The problem is that it takes forever to export. So, my initial impression is that this thing will only make people who want to buy stuff on iTunes happy. Anyone looking for a DVR or wanting to play home movies is going to be frustrated. The 40 GB hard drive is inadequate, and I hit snags setting it up. Apple should have a service to install this for people. It’s easy, yeah, but it’s not as simple and easy as one would expect. I see lots of people having trouble, and that’s not the first impression Apple wants to have. All that said, I see great potential, but, like the iPhone lacking basic 3G support, the Apple TV leaves something to be desired. Once they add gaming and Web surfing support, I’m sure I’ll change my mind. Right now, it’s just a big iPod with an external screen.
Can’t see the point, personally. But then, I use my iMac as my sole “TV”, so what need do I have for a devise to stream content to yet another screen?
Maybe I’m just not sufficiently acquisitive.
‘c’ you the man.
Rock On!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”raspberry” style=”border:0;” />