“On May 30, in a conversation with Walt Mossberg at the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif., Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed exactly what he has in mind for the Apple TV, and while it doesn’t look like a big deal today, the implications are very interesting. After a software upgrade available in mid-June, Apple TV users will be able to watch video downloads from Google’s YouTube,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek.
“Jobs described Apple TV as a ‘hobby,’ saying that Apple’s three main businesses are the Mac, the iPod and the iTunes store, and soon, the iPhone. There’s not much of a business yet in bridging the gap between Internet video and the TV set—Jobs ballparked the current addressable market at just hundreds of thousands of users. So for now, Apple TV remains an interesting sideshow to its existing $20 billion to $24 billion business of selling Macs, iPods, iPhones, and everything else Apple purveys. In time, it may grow into something much bigger, just as the iPod did,” Hesseldahl reports.
“Hobby is an interesting choice of words, considering how important Internet video is widely expected to become in the next several years. Market research firm eMarketer reckons that ad spending in conjunction with Internet videos could grow to a $3-billion-a-year business. So when Steve Jobs calls something a hobby, I’m reminded of a professional baseball player named Bo Jackson who took up a “hobby” in 1987—playing pro football for the Oakland Raiders. Only one month into that hobby, Jackson rushed for 221 yards against the Seattle Seahawks, a rushing record for a Monday night game, and scored three touchdowns,” Hesseldahl reports.
“My expectation is that this is only the first in a long line of partnerships bringing video of all kinds to the Apple TV,” Hesseldahl writes. “The outlook may even be more promising than in the early days of the iPod…”
Full article here.
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