Today and Tomorrow's televisions are rendering the AppleTV redundant
Over the past 6 months televisions have started to roll out that include some — it not all — of the most noteworthy features of the Apple TV. Panasonic's current line of televisions can now stream HD movies from Amazon for the same prices you'd pay to rent movies from Apple. Samsung's line is soon to include YouTube streaming and — something Apple still doesn't give us — widgets; they already include flickr photo streaming and video/photo/music streaming from your computer. And that's not all. Blu-Ray players from LG and Samsung include Netflix streaming (HD and SD) and Pandora streaming right out of the box. All of these features are at no additional cost assuming you were going to buy a television or blu-ray (DVD) player anyway.
With the AppleTV at a standstill for a year-and-a-half, the little box that never really justified it's pricetag is starting to look awfully unnecessary in Apple's product line-up. What's worse, because Apple's only using the thing to further their iTunes movie/television/music sales, they'll never add support for iTunes Store competitors like Netflix and Pandora (or DVR capabilities, for that matter). Between this and the complete lack of Blu-Ray support on the Macintosh — thanks Phil "You can get all the HD you need from iTunes" Schiller — it appears to me that Apple's place as a media salesman is hindering it's product offerings.
With the AppleTV at a standstill for a year-and-a-half, the little box that never really justified it's pricetag is starting to look awfully unnecessary in Apple's product line-up. What's worse, because Apple's only using the thing to further their iTunes movie/television/music sales, they'll never add support for iTunes Store competitors like Netflix and Pandora (or DVR capabilities, for that matter). Between this and the complete lack of Blu-Ray support on the Macintosh — thanks Phil "You can get all the HD you need from iTunes" Schiller — it appears to me that Apple's place as a media salesman is hindering it's product offerings.
Comments
Wow, two weeks and not a single post? Considering this thread's still on the first page I take it this is a pretty dead forum.
It must have gotten buried fast by the latest Anti Google SPAM or something else equally annoying.
I kind of got the sense that Apple would not be able to duplicate their success with downloadable audio in the video realm. The movie industry is a whole 'nother beast as compared to the music industry and they are going to make sure that no one gets the kind of clout that Apple has with audio.
To be fair Apple has gotten into spats with some studios and they have patched things up but with Hulu and Netflix they have options for movie distribution that don't involve Apple.
Apple needs to evolve the Apple TV into a device that sits perfectly in the midst of the Digital Lifestyle. It doesn't have to be the best uber HDTV accessory but if they find the right mix of features and keep the cost down it'll be a great device.
How about Apple trying to take on Sonos and by adding audio distribution features? How about offering rudimentary support for home automation? They need to find a personality for the Apple TV. It's a good product but we're still about 5 years away from digital movie downloads really becoming a force. Apple could even entertain the idea of more robust gaming.
Right now the streaming from the Net is going to be included in midrange and high end sets and frankly it'll be "good enough" for many people.
movie moguls want anyone other than apple so they do an endrun around apple
Wow, two weeks and not a single post? Considering this thread's still on the first page I take it this is a pretty dead forum.
How can I argue with you if you're right?
For the iTunes users, I guess there may be some overlap, but, as I said, that has never been my primary use. To each his own, I guess.
Hulu covers a lot of people's downloadable TV needs, and seems to have become the defacto standard for time shifted viewing on the internet. Compared to that, buying episodes on iTunes doesn't look like much of a deal, particularly since TV episodes are rarely the kind of thing that you want to want to own, and if it's a show that you particularly love the DVD box set is going to be a much better value.
However, I don't think it's clear yet how well "monetized" Hulu actually is, and at some point the viewing might become more burdensome or there will be less available or both.
Apple's movie rental model has a better chance of success, but I get the feeling that the studios aren't being all that forthcoming with product--- very hit and miss selection, still, compared to, say, the Netflix library (although Netflix's streaming Watch It Now offerings are the very definition of "hit and miss.")
I don't think the picture has sorted itself out yet, at all, because the studios still really don't know what to do and are sort of keeping one foot in every door without fully committing to anything.
I think Apple should give up on their TV episode sales and allow Apple TV to access Hulu and the like, while concentrating on making their movie rental business as good as possible, since that will remain reasonable competitive.
I don't think Apple has much of a chance on getting any of the big flat screen players to include Apple TV functionality in their sets, since Samsung et al wouldn't want to be tied to a minority platform, but they could add value to stand alone box in such a way that I still think it could be pretty popular-- but they really don't seem to care, all that much.
Apple has never been one for integrating their products into other manufacturers products, so, I don't think that's gonna happen either. The closest they came was the Motorola ROKR, and we now see where that was headed.
Pass; if I'm going to own a device, that connects to my TV, it better be able to playback most of, or all of my media, not just to what limited formats iTunes supports, and I don't want to rent movies on iTunes.
I'm not that interested in what some of the newer TVs have, but things like movie streaming are cool (but I can do that with my 360, as long as I have a Netflix and XBL Gold account).
AppleTV as a technology platform would be much more successful than AppleTV the stand alone settop device. Apple either needs to start making TVs, DVD/Blu-Ray players, and DVRs with ATV or they need to find some partners.
They're not going to find any partners until they make the open up the software a bit to make it more general purpose.
Wouldn't take much, but I don't think Samsung or Sony or LG or Panasonic are interested in selling flat screens that only talk to iTunes.