MacDailyNews Take: $99 million gross in under 90 days. That officially qualifies as a “nice hobby.”
The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows, stream content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, all on your HD TV for the breakthrough price of just $99. iTunes users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day.
Now with AirPlay, recently available in iOS 4.2, users can wirelessly stream their music, video and photos from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to their new Apple TV, making it the perfect iOS accessory. Users can also control Apple TV with their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free app on the App Store.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Wait ’til Apple turns on the apps.
Of course, I’ve had something to do with it – bought five atvs as gifts for family and friends. Has Gooky sold 1k gtvs yet?
I have three! 8)
Got one, it’s great because I have over 400 movies on a 2TB harddrive recorded by my EyeTV over the years. When I finish building my addition, I’ll get another AppleTV to stream to my home theater setup.
Can’t wait for christmas, I’m hoping to receive one of these! Maybe they’ll tack on an appletv app store along with the mac app store announcement in january
I wish my hobbies were so lucrative.
I love my new Apple TV, but I don’t think the interface is quite as polished as those in the classic iPod and iOS. It’s odd that you can’t access Movies or TV Shows in your iTunes Library from the main menu, instead having to select Computers, then the computer it’s on, then the media type. Since Apple acknowledged people don’t want to worry about storage, wouldn’t it make much more sense to aggregate all the content on your network into media buckets no matter where it’s stored? Right now, you still have to remember which computer everything is on.
Both the included remote and the iOS Remote app are a disappointment too. The hardware remote should have a Clickwheel, essentially making it an iPod that uses your TV as its screen. And the Remote app should treat the Apple TV like it does an iTunes Library, giving you lists and options on the screen instead of making you manipulate what’s on your TV with gestures. What happens if you’re having a party and want to change the music in the other room? You have to go to the other room. I just find myself using AirPlay instead of the native Apple TV UI when I can because it’s just easier and better.
Thankfully most of these issues can be solved with a simple software update. That said, I love the device and was thrilled to replace my aging DVD player with it. With some polish, this could easily take off, especially for those with iOS devices.
I got one for Christmas for myself and the wife has wrapped it. Can’t wait to plug it in and see what Apple’s got in store for me. It’s good to be a part of the solution for a change!
Cool. Now give us apps!!!
——RM
Im hoping to get on for Xmas.
I will buy an Apple TV the day Apple makes Airplay video Quicktime Player compatible, so that I can watch any internet video on the TV. Until then I will just use other methods of watching video.
The question I have is where will the apps reside without onboard memory in the new Apple TV. Are they supposed to be cloud based?
so much for the hobby lol…
J Bone – Have you seen the iPad/iPhone web browser called “WebOut”? It lets you do exactly what you are asking for – stream _any_ internet video to ATV using AirPlay. Only .99 cents I believe.
With only 8GB of internal flash storage, I don’t see there being much in the way of apps ever coming. The 8GB is needed for buffering streaming video/audio.
@J Bone
I may be wrong, but if you can play something in Quicktime, you can play it in iTunes and if you can play it in iTunes, you can play it over Airplay to your AppleTV. At least that has been my experience.
I’ve even slung 1080p content from my laptop to my AppleTV. Looked fabulous.
I love my Apple TV!!! Airplay is awesome!
I’m with J Bone, I want to be able to “airplay” Hulu Plus and Net Flix to my ATV2
anyone know of a way to do it?
I also expect a gradual but steady rollout of media/presentation oriented apps for the AppleTV over the next year. Audio only apps, like Pandora already work. Apple and the developers just need to add video support for things like Keynote, Hulu, etc.
got one connected to a 90″ screen / projector set up
looks awesome and is great fun to use
“MacDailyNews Take: Wait ’til Apple turns on the apps.”
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Do you mean cloud based apps? Remember, there is no storage for the apps on TV2.
I’ll be keeping my 160GB Apple TV- Thank You. I like the smaller footprint of the new unit, but prefer local storage to streaming.
Yes, it is a hobby unless it gets 1080p…
Got mine for, and use mainly to play music from our iTunes library and from our iPhone’s. Works great!!!
Everything else is just icing on the cake.
Now if I can just get the iTunes Visualizer to play on my HD TV . . .
Anyone have an idea as to the number of the original version of Apple TV Apple sold?
MDN.
You forget. Jobs said we don’t want apps on our TV so praise that instead. Not having Apps IS NOT a disadvantage. TV should be simple, like Apple TV. Not complicated like Google TV. I don’t want apps on my TV. Well, it would be cool for a week but why would I want a bug slow extra computer? Want to surf the web use your iPad. Wanna use apps, use your iPad and iPhone.
Apps on the TV is what the geeks want. And they want it because it’s cool not because it’s very useful. I don’t really see why I should or want to check my E-mail on my TV. It’s kinda stupid.
I hope Jobs never turn on apps. Let the idiot geeks hack apple tv to get another useless computer.
TV SHOULD be simple!
Apps? No thanks!