Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ireland 
5 remotes (even a universal remote), clunky interfaces, way to much crap wires and boxes, poor design in general, complex setup and UI, complicated remotes, no content built-in. Etc. Etc. The TV business is in as bad shape as phones were before Apple came along. Not to mention, Apple as well as anyone knows if they don't do this someone else will come along and do it instead if them. And eat their lunch in the process.
Steve Jobs isnt the second coming of RoboChrist. Apple cant just walk in and make a market work. They didnt do it with the first AppleTV (even though it was likely the best selling and most profitable wireless media appliance) or their HiFi.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SOLID PLAN GOING IN which is something Ive seen no one make a well rounded prediction on. The iPhone was a natural fit. The PMP market was plateauing. We didnt know if Apple could make it work or to what extend theyd invest in the idea, but we knew that it was inevitable.
With an HDTV there are too many holes and too many people unwilling to look at the big picture. For instance, if the point of the an Apple made HDTV is to reduce the number of remote controls down to one then its failed as stated since it only integrates the AppleTV and HDTV. You still need your DVR and/or cable/sat box with its controller. For many with these devices the TV has long since become a dumb monitor, not something you need to fiddle with often. You can turn it on and off from your DVR or cable/sat remote just from the power-passthrough on that appliance.
So would it have a cable card built in to accommodate this with ports for some peripherals and storage off the HDTV using Thunderbolt? If that is the case then why wouldnt Apple offer a cable card option on their AppleTV so the TV can continue to be a dumb terminal, so the price can still be low and achievable while still being profitable, and so they can market it to anyone and everyone who already has a TV, not a huge, multi-thousand dollar device with low margins that has to replace your existing TV. You said the TV business is hurting, but they hurting because they cant get people to replace TVs often, not because they can.
And then what happens to the internal AppleTV hardware when they release an SDK and App Store. Your AppleTV apps running on the A4 are no longer as good as running on the A5 next year or A6 the following year. Or how about the A8 and were still not ready for a new multi-thousand dollar purchase just to be able to play the latest games on your TV.
Now consider this. Apple instead decided to update their AppleTV each year or so with the newest processor, alongside an SDK and App Store so they 1) get you to buy a new AppleTV every year or two, and 2) get you buy games and apps. They now have an ecosystem extension that helps lock in future buyers that have used their iOS-based iDevices. They can finally release the FaceTime protocol that will put camera in any vendors TVs, and they can eventually get Thunderbolt as the connection for the future TVs that will allow data video to be transmitted at once over a single wire.
If we really look at Apples focus its not the multi-thousand dollar Mac Pro or the multi-thousand dollar Xserve. Its the cheaper items they excel at making that people love to buy and use and that are make up the majority of their revenue of their profits.
The problem is fixing the way we get channels to our TV, but thinking the monitor you look at is the problem simply because its what you look at it is not fixing the problem, its adding to it. Even in this thread there is mention of plasma, LCD, 47, 50, 52, 45, 65, et al. There are just too many options that appeal to different needs. With the iPhone it would be nice if it had a larger display, but TVs arent bought that way. Oh, and I need a 20 for my den and a 32 for my guest bedroom, and 14 for my bathroom. can you see Apple offering 18 SKUs the way they do for the iPad? I cant when all those iPads fill up a 20th of the space used by one TV.
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