“For music, Apple’s iTunes store is an enormous success. Customers have downloaded 8.5 billion songs, making iTunes the top music retailer in the world. The online media bazaar stores credit-card data on 100 million people, indicating that each customer, on average, has downloaded 85 songs,” Arik Hesseldahl writes for BusinessWeek.
“But when it comes video, iTunes just isn’t a force to be reckoned with. As of Mar. 19, the latest figures available, iTunes customers had bought 250 million TV shows and purchased or rented 33 million movies. That indicates that customers on average have bought 2.5 TV shows and one-third of a movie each,” Hesseldahl writes. “Let’s face it: iTunes just isn’t where consumers want to buy video entertainment. Yes, it’s great for watching on a PC or handheld device. It also works nicely for TV, if you happen to be one of the relatively small number of AppleTV owners.”
MacDailyNews Note: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates that 6.6 million Apple TV units will sold by year end.
Hesseldahl continues, “Apple should consider making iTunes an ingredient brand by embedding it as an application on smart TVs from other manufacturers.”
“Imagine the possibilities: TV sets will be marketed with ‘iTunes inside’ and boast a remote control that itself includes an iTunes button. Pushing the button triggers something very similar to the AppleTV experience, and contain links to the iTunes Store, allowing movies, TV shows, and music to be downloaded directly to the TV set and even shared with the nearest PC, iPod, and iPhone,” Hesseldahl. “AppleTV could be a feature on TVs from Samsung, Vizio, and—dare I suggest it?—even Sony, among others.”
“How might it happen? Apple could build and design an iTunes module using a microprocessor designed by PA Semi, the chip company it acquired in 2008, and the other chips necessary to embed iTunes software directly into the TV,” Hesseldahl writes. “Throw in some flash memory for storage, a network interface for wireless and wired connections, and offer the whole package as an add-on to TV manufacturers.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
It’s been in the cards for a long time. Apple will refresh the long stagnant Cinema display with an integrated Apple TV
I think that approach was tried already with iTunes and the Moto Rockr, FAIL. Apple needs to have full control of the device development for it to be a success.
Can I buy one today?
Hm! Might work well in USA… But, all over the place, this is an old concept allready largely in use in Europe for years. Apple TV is no such wonder thing there.
From a marketing perspective, Apple’s potential TV offerings CANNOT be called iTunes.
Tunes = Music. Only. It doesn’t matter what is contained in, or sold on iTunes, it’s the customer’s perception that matters.
I know that the iTunes Store sells and provides way more than just music, but when I think iTUNES, I still think “music”.
Implanting something Apple into the device of another manufacture produces a Frankenstein or worse. The other manufacture will absolutely screw it up.
The idea is a good one, however, as long as the TV has an Apple logo on it. Also, to be a success you need better video content on iTunes.
It’s really about the content at this point. I love my AppleTV, but it lacks when it comes to TV & movies. If Apple had the same distribution power for movies and TV as it does with music, then game over. Also, having to wait 30 days to rent a movie after its release from iTunes just sucks.
I remember Steve Jobs once saying that people want to buy music not rent it. I only want to rent movies (or TV shows for that matter) and not own them. I long for the day when I’ll finally be able to dump my cable provider (for TV) and pick what I want to watch when I want to watch it and where I want to watch it via iTunes.
“From a marketing perspective, Apple’s potential TV offerings CANNOT be called iTunes. “
iTV – No wait—.
The Netflix model is working for me. Monthly subscription gets me DVDs plus free movie streaming. If I don’t watch something one night it can wait. It’s very flexible and has decent content. None of the new stuff but you can get that on DVD.
I’ve always been turned off with the 24 h limit for renting on iTunes.
I have a BluRay player with Netflix built in. Works very well and the quality is good. I think the MacMini could do well as a similar device but the price is still too high for the mass market.
I don’t think a Apple TV embedded into a TV will work. They need something which will work with current HD TVs otherwise the market is limited.
@breeze
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Long stagnant Cinema display? It’s only been 910 days since it was last updated. What’s the rush?
It’s probaly too late for this to be feasible. TV manufacturers already are developing their own web experiences in their sets, including web browsing and deals with Netflix, Amazon, etc. Apple’s lost that opportunity (if they ever had it).
On the other hand, if they continue to develop the AppleTV into a full media experience with online access and browsing, then I think they’ll have something. Sure, it’s one more device, but it’s also a device you can keep if you upgrade your TV, or your TV croaks.
The future of AppleTV is to turn it into an experience like the iPhone – ‘open’ it up for developers to create Apps for it (much of what the iPhone can do would also be handy on a television – that includes games, weather and info apps, ski resort updates, all those kinds of things (sort of like widgets in Dashboard, if anyone remembers what those are).
That all said, there is value in what the author suggests, because if you could have a Dashboard-style pop-up or overlay (sort of a picture-on-picture) overlying whatever the set is currently displaying (or maybe even have a short DVR capability to pause the underlying content while in that ‘Dashboard’), that would be pretty handy. And it would have to be hardware/firmware in the TV to avoid having to change input sources.
@thethirdshoe
“Long stagnant Cinema display? It’s only been 910 days since it was last updated. What’s the rush?”
Just one more day, and you’ve got a conspiracy…
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates that 6.6 million Apple TV units will sold by year end.
And how many iPhone 3GS were sold the first weekend alone?
6.6 million, compared to 100 million credit cards on file?
The Mac percentage of total computer sales is better than that. And that’s comparing TV vs. the iTunes faithful, not the unwashed population of Windoze users.
TV is selling in small numbers.
..or Apple can make a TV with iTunes inside and sell it for the same price as a Sony.
If The Studios would allow it, iTunes could be the world’s biggest movie seller as well.
The Studios are scared shitless of iTunes.
Yeah thanks Arik……I don’t think Apple needs your advice on product designs or campaigns. If you want a job at Apple…..put in a resume like everyone else.
A bit different to the Moto comparison unless Apple is going to enter the TV market big time. Can’t see that happening simply due to economies of scale required for anything but the top end, so this might be worth considering at some point.
Have you heard of a “Tuner”. That’s not directly about music.
My 127 cm plasma is rated to last 65,000 hours or about 27 years of normal usage. I certainly don’t want to wait that long to update my iTunesTV, so it is 5 AppleTVs for me over that time instead.
I just tried. It didn’t work. Now, how do I put this thing back together again?
I used to be a Netflix user (canceled because I don’t want to wait a couple of days for my movie and didn’t want to have to mail my movies back). Then I tried blockbuster move service (canceled because there was usually a long wait for many movies I wanted.) I now use movie rentals on iTunes all the time. I have an apple TV, but most times I end up viewing the movies on my macbook on a business trip. The biggest problem with the iTunes store is lack of availability. Not all releases on DVD are released on the iTunes store at the same time, and even those that are released a lot are initially for purchase only and not rental. If iTunes would allow rental of all movies and they are released at the same time as the DVD, I think it would be much more successful. Then you can watch whatever movie you want instantaneously and don’t have to worry about queues or mailing back movies.
Make a video subscription model for itunes and I’ll ditch cable. This is my dream. Why won’t they make my dreams come true?
I want an FED, or SED display, and Apple has the money to make it happen. Oled is having problems.
After Sony came out with its tiny 11 inch, they have delayed launch of the 27 inch.
My Sony trinitron 20 inch looks BETTER than ANY lcd I have ever seen. Lcd is shit!
I think that anyone who would be in the market for this type of device would understand that iTunes is more than just music, or at the very least, comprehend that fact if it were explained and demonstrated by any salesperson worth his salt.