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too many posts to read all of them, but I think “One word” has the correct answers (Placeholder, and video rentals).
MDN word “figure” as in: Steve has it all figured out!
I would love an tv. But there’s no way in hell that I’m gonna blow $3k on a new living room set or $500 on a new bedroom set just so I can have a boob tube with a connector compatible with an tv. If friggin’ Apple had either included a coaxial out, a yellow wire out, or a cable converter for either the tv sales would be in the millions, not the hundreds of thousands.
And my wife is pregnant, she might let me spend $300. She certainly won’t let me blow $3000.
Everything isn’t going to be an iPhone, iPod, iMac or a 30″ display.
Sometimes there are smaller interest items. It works, is profitable and those who have it like it. Software & chips will make it work for 1080p.
Best thing Apple can do is build the electronics into an 42″ 1080p LCD Apple branded display to connect wirelessly to a MacPro.
“Unlike music, people tend to watch TV shows and movies once, there is no need to “own” (and have to store) such content (beyond the few special movies people might want to own to watch multiple times).”
I have read this….a lot of times in a lot of places, and have to shake my head every time because it just flies in the face of evidence to the contrary.
At least as far as movies are concerned. TV shows, on the other hand, are another matter, mostly because of their ephemeral nature.
What little remains of the movie rental mindset is a dwindling holdover from the days of VCR and VHS tapes, that today mostly appeals to the financial strapped.
The widespread success of DVD sales (along with the simultaneous decline of movie rentals) over the past decade quite clearly shows that people DO want to own movies.
And don’t bother mentioning NetFlix. They’re the exception that proves the rule. BlockBuster and others like them nearly bought the farm because they seriiously underestimated DVD and its ownership appeal.
Not saying that all people fit the movie ownership catagory, just that most do. It’s the marketplace.
If movie/TV show rentals float someone’s boat…that’s fine. But that’s just them and the minority they belong to. They aren’t an enlightened elite with a crystal ball view of how the future of entertainment is going to be fulfilled, although that seems to be their mutually held, self-deluding conceit.
Another AppleTV thread, another hundred or so requests for an OTA tuner, DVR, ability to play DVDs more easily (no ripping), and access to the iTS (and some all in the same post). It would be hilarious if it wasn’t also an indicator of how badly Jobs botched this device from the start, and has steadfastly refused to address it’s shortcomings since. The sales figures being positively ‘Zune-like’ just puts it all into proper perspective.
I hate to be an ‘I told you so’, but … oh what the hell – I really don’t hate it that much. It’s been so obvious where the AppleTV fell short, it’s actually nice to see a lot of macolyte-type people finally coming around. Not addressing AppleTV’s shortcomings simply means fewer will be sold, and that’s not good.
What’s truly amazing though is MDN’s take. Not too long ago they were defending AppleTV as ‘practically perfect in every way’, and telling everyone else how they just ‘didn’t get it’. Now we have them giving almost the exact same recommendations for improving it that have been flying all over the web since the day it debuted. Actually, I find that hopeful – maybe it means they aren’t as far up Jobs’ butt as they always seem. Certainly it means that it isn’t impossible for them to admit a mistake.
I’ll cross my fingers for them coming around on the iMovie issue too.
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cool smirk hmm … what’s wrong with the emoticons?
I probably would’ve bought an Apple TV if I had a HiDef TV. But what I like about Apple is fix pricing. Fixed price on iTunes, fixed price for movies. However, being able to rent would be nice.
Oh well…guess I’m sticking to buying DVDs at Blockbusters or Rogers at Previewed prices.
I love my Apple TV!
We use it for slideshows, YouTube (way better than watching them via a browser), HD podcasts, and Handbrake’d DVDs. BTW, the latter look noticeably better via Apple TV than when the DVD is played directly on our upconverting DVD player.
Apple has made a superb device. I’m looking forward to direct movie purchases and rentals.
The USB encoder thingy is supposed to make converting faster…
http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_turbo264
I have a 40 GB Apple TV.
It is great. I use it for music, pictures, movies and TV shows. Works flawlessly and can be operated by all family members. It impresses all visitors and once they understand what it is and does they all seem to want one.
The most important upgrades that I think Apple can do to this product would be the ability to play more video formats (video ts and divx come to mind).
Once again fanboys rush to Apple’s defense as if the company can do no wrong. I love Apple but I’m not blind to the fact that AppleTV is overpriced for what you get. There are a lot of much cheaper products out there with twice as many features. OK they have less-pretty interfaces but eye candy is far less important than practicality, for me anyway.
@Thomas from Deutschland
My TV has HD resolution, both 1080i at 60Hz and 1080i at 50Hz and 720p HD at 50Hz & 60Hz. Not bad really, especially as most people can not tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, or 1080i and 1080p.
@emil, @Toby
TV does support HD, Check the specs pages at Apple’s web site. It’s just that there’s very little HD content. Present bandwidth tends to hold back streaming full HD content. H264 comes in here. Check out Daniel Eran Dilger’s Roughly Drafted Magazine (RDM) for some excellent analysis of why we are where we are today.
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/147048D8-D8B7-45E7-9A97-3CD5B4C2B75A.html
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/E1D8A057-6FBB-4269-A348-27AF9010FB19.html
“Daniel Eran Dilger’s Roughly Drafted Magazine”
When is he going to rename that to fanboy frigtard magazine?
The Apple TV does not need to be a swiss army knife. The one thing thats missing is movie rentals. If I can rent movies plus watch the ones I have handbraked then it would be more than worth the price.
However the movie studios are trying their best not to give Jobs all the power. Apple would move quickly to the top of the movie rental business if the studios would give Jobs movie rentals.
Apple TV is a media server for the living room. Music, Movies and Pictures in a sleek box.
Built in a Blue-Ray unit.
AppleTV was not a flop.
i have two here! i love the appleTV! one for our canadian home and one in france. looking foward to an update that will make it even more enjoyable than it is now.
I have always believed that the Apple TV would be an evolutionary product that has come before it’s time. If Apple keeps AppleTV around it truely could be a great product in a couple of years.
BAC:
IF Verizon ever offers the iPhone, they’ll almost certainly cripple it the way they do with the other hdwr they sell. Like my Motorola, which I selected because it can sync w/Macs via USB. Except that Verizon disabled that feature in order to force users through their stupidly expensive data service. Verizon would certainly disable many of the iPhone’s best features
… unless the iPhone’s success has completely changed the carrier’s practices by then.
The problem with the cellphone companies is the same as with music and video content providers: they are interested in getting money by any means and wary of actually earning through the hard work of product and service innovation. These companies will try to push anything. How could someone who wants to keep us tied to subscription music services for an eternally recurring monthly fee or who tries to make me pay for a movie I have no interest in by bundling it with the one I want ever grasp Apple’s simple strategy for success: give customers the best experience possible while milking them as little as possible?
I want to see video rental on iTunes, but I suspect that we don’t have it not because of Jobs holding out against the idea itself, but holding out against network demands to rent TV shows for $2 or $3 a shot.
Apple can be a real bully… but they’ve pretty consistently been a bully in their customers’ interests, not against them.
In my house, none of us are big television/film watchers. I can count on one hand the amount of programs our family watches with any sort of regularity. Perhaps when our TV goes we’ll upgrade to an HD box, but for now it doesn’t make sense.
Now, that being said, there are one or two programs that we try not to miss, and I either have to set them up to record via DVD-R, DVR, or VHS-R (such a pain), or (and when the programs are offered, this is preferable) buy them off of the iTunes Media Store.
An AppleTV would be perfect for us, if it supported older televisions. For now, I’m just not sure the expense of buying an HD-TV as well as an Apple TV relates to the amount of viewing we do. Like I said, maybe when our current TV blows out then I’ll get the HD box, but replacing the TV just for the Apple TV seems like a disproportionate expense.
(I’d rather spend that money on other stuff for the time being)
which happens fairly often with the various crap DVRs offered by cable providers
Never happens with my TiVo
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I do not have an AppleTV for one reason. I have me a miniMac all hooked up to my TV and doing what AppleTV can do and a bit more. Want a true picture of how strong the AppleTV market is you need to count us mini owners who use it as an AppleTV.
I replied to his article on my blog.
http://3e-lab.com/blog/09/15/biz/not-really-an-iflop-but-close/
Apple just needs to market the thing more. Think about the marketing budget of the iPhone. Then compare it to the Apple TV. The marketing budget of the Apple TV is not even on the radar.
Ballyhooed? I suggest that it was never “ballyhooed” …