I'm not sure if the living room will exist for decades to come... Kinda like the dining room is disappearing now...
With clever use of overlays and simulated environs, the walls of our houses will simply disappear and become another information/entertainment delivery device.
With clever use of overlays and simulated environs, the walls of our houses will simply disappear and become another information/entertainment delivery device.
The iHouse... I think I saw the prototype on youtube once.
as defined by SJ only? How about some new iPhone models to appeal to a larger audience, or is one size fits all going to work for Apple long term? OK, with that philosophy, make the best business bPhone then. Let's get on the enterprise. best product only, as in one product fits all, i'm not buying this for a long term strategy.
The problem is that when Apple releases something, the media think it's going to take over the world, if it doesn't then it's a flop. Apple TV is probably doing "alright" it's selling and the market is still growing. Apple doesn't normally jump into young technology unless it sees a future potential. I think Apple have a lot planned for the Apple TV, but it's waiting for the market to catch up.
Apple TV = Hobby primarily because cracking the Oligarchy of the Broadcast media is a bit tougher than cracking the music industry. If Apple can deliver lower cost shows and broadband speeds and penetration rise they could be onto something but right now the infrastructure isn't ready. I know of so many areas where Comcast is the only "real" broadband company. .
Exactly...I just read today in the WSJ Movie Studios currently make only $400 million per year from downloads, $18 Billion from DVD sales, $14 Billion from paid and unpaid TV airings and $9 Billion from theatre ticket sales....
$400,000 million on downloads! Talk about being in its 'Infancy!' The big question is can they quantify the bit.torrent losses by not moving quicker with Apple/AppleTV? I would estimate that just like the music industry they are losing millions each day in pirated movies!
Sheez! Get on board! There is a 'tectonic shift' in the way media is going to be consumed!
Edit: A Billion is a thousand million!
Edit: I think I have those numbers right...doing it from memory!
Edit: ABC News has just restructured and by the sounds of it is laying off 25% of its personnel.
Apple TV = Hobby primarily because cracking the Oligarchy of the Broadcast media is a bit tougher than cracking the music industry. If Apple can deliver lower cost shows and broadband speeds and penetration rise they could be onto something.
Hey, the negotiations with the broadcast media for iPad content, such as the 99¢ TV shows with ABC and CBS, are going to be good for the Apple TV. It may be a hobby, but it plays well with their overall strategy.
I'm not sure if the living room will exist for decades to come... Kinda like the dining room is disappearing now (merging to the living room)... Soon it will just be "the room" because there will be no focus and everyone will use their iPad or iGoggles or whatever new convergent device is out.
My living/dining room is kind of like that, the only boundary is the edge of carpet to wood floor. For a long time, first time visitors thought there wasn't even a TV. There is a ceiling mounted projector that seems to hide in plain sight, you don't see a screen if it's off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistergsf
But Apple doesn't seem to want to do or try anything new to the Apple TV to make it a more compelling product. How can they grow the market and make it worthwhile when ATV has stayed basically the same aside from a few software updates? What, exactly, is holding them back? If Mr. Cook wants some ideas, I've got a long list of ideas.
I really don't get it either. The Apple of a few years ago probably would have just dumped the product. At the very least, it seems they could offer a streaming video plan, partner with Netflix, Hulu or do their own system. Hardware-wise, they could drop an A4 or a successor in there, offer one without a hard drive and sell it for less. They keep saying that below $200 is their hottest price point that gets people buying their iPods, why not do the same for AppleTV? A4 should cost less per unit than a discrete intel CPU, support chipset & nvidia GPU.
Yes I think the "Hobby" refrain coming from Apple is a bit silly. An unenthused Apple isn't going to deliver great products and if they cannot deliver great products then they need to open up iTunes so that purchases play nicely on other hardware boxen.
The movie industry was adamant that Apple not get the type of control they have with music distribution and they do have more options because Apple never delivered the magic bullet in the Apple TV as compared to the iPod Magic Bullet.
Apple has to swim upstream just like everyone else.
The problem isn't that Apple TV isn't a good product or that iTunes content isn't playable on other companies devices. The problem is that iTunes content isn't good enough to replace cable. No online solution is and the content providers want to keep it that way. Cable brings them a lot of money and they don't want to risk that revenue stream by making online content too attractive.
What Apple needs for Apple TV is a distribution deal that will allow iTunes to provide a better service than cable currently does. Once they have that, Apple TV becomes very attractive as is. You would buy Apple TV just like you buy a digital cable box now. To get that deal though, Apple has keep Apple TV low profile. Content providers are attached to cable, but they are also greedy. If Apple can convince them that a better iTunes deal will bring them more customers outside of the living room they might go for it. That is precisely why Apple is using the iPad to negotiate 99 cent episodes instead of an improved Apple TV. Once Apple gets the deal they need, they can bring out the new and improved Apple TV and make their push into the living room.
Decoupling internet service providers and television content providers is probably one of the toughest things to do, but that is exactly what we need to happen if we ever want truly great online content distribution, be it from iTunes, Hulu, Netflix or something else. Making Apple TV better than it is now is trivial when compared to getting a content deal that is competitive with cable.
The problem isn't that Apple TV isn't a good product or that iTunes content isn't playable on other companies devices. The problem is that iTunes content isn't good enough to replace cable. No online solution is and the content providers want to keep it that way. Cable brings them a lot of money and they don't want to risk that revenue stream by making online content too attractive.
What Apple needs for Apple TV is a distribution deal that will allow iTunes to provide a better service than cable currently does. Once they have that, Apple TV becomes very attractive as is. You would buy Apple TV just like you buy a digital cable box now. To get that deal though, Apple has keep Apple TV low profile. Content providers are attached to cable, but they are also greedy. If Apple can convince them that a better iTunes deal will bring them more customers outside of the living room they might go for it. That is precisely why Apple is using the iPad to negotiate 99 cent episodes instead of an improved Apple TV. Once Apple gets the deal they need, they can bring out the new and improved Apple TV and make their push into the living room.
Decoupling internet service providers and television content providers is probably one of the toughest things to do, but that is exactly what we need to happen if we ever want truly great online content distribution, be it from iTunes, Hulu, Netflix or something else. Making Apple TV better than it is now is trivial when compared to getting a content deal that is competitive with cable.
I don't think people spend that much time in the living room. I think Apple would hit the Auto Industry before taking over living room.
Apple TV is very hard to achieve as the Broadcasting industry is being so hard to crack.
Plus people can play iPhone and iPad in the living room, so its not all that bad.
I would respectfully disagree about 'spending time in the living room!' TV and movies not to mention games take up a lot of time...
I enjoy watching movies on my AppleTV. I want to support Apple in 'cracking' the studios.
On a side note the only reason I have cable is so I can watch Formula one races in HD on SpeedTV.
I hate to say this but I'm very close to giving up on cable....and forgoing F1 this season....and only watch movies....Maybe I can bit.torrent HD F1 races...not sure though.
But the money I save by not having cable I could invest in a 27" iMac and a "n" Time capsule...up my internet speed to the max...Just saying!
Wal-Mart just bought Vudu. Between Netflix, Wal-Mart, Hulu and a host of other options, Apple may need to get more serious about AppleTV soon or they will be pushed off the cliff by the movie industry and these other companies aligning against them.
And align against them is what they want to do. They have seen the music industry be squeezed by Apple and though I believe it is not a bad thing (someone had to do it) the movie industry and television companies are not exactly eager to jump into bed with Apple. Other avenues through Netflix, Hulu, and others may gain traction.
However I think the problem with the apple way to a movie company is why make a deal for content to apple only products? This is all the more true with television content. Why would a company want to siphon themselves off from the rest of the potential money to be made. I think these video media companies are trying to figure how they really want to do this and how are they going to maximize profit.
I'm happy with my Apple TV the way it is. I guess I'm not your average user but my biggest complaint is that there's no way (that I've found) to play an entire season of a TV show without pressing play after each episode finishes.
This is not exactly on topic, other than it being my prediction of how Apple's focus on simplicity will play out for "multi-tasking" (aka background Applications that weren't written by Apple).
In middle-to-late March, Apple will host an event demonstrating iPhone/iPad OS 4 — like many are predicting, it will include a dashboard-like feature. Developers will be able two write two types of dashboard widgets:
Standalone — simple widgets such as the weather widget that is on the Mac OS/X dashboard as well as the similar one on the current iPhone.
Application Widgets — These have a full application associated with them, but also have a widget that you can display quickly.
The "Application Widgets" will allow the user to run apps in the background. So, for example, Pandora could write a widget that is connected to their app that will keep playing music in the background and display a set of play/pause/skip controls along with the name of the song playing, etc. Apple's own iPod/Music app will have a dashboard widget for controlling it as well.
The user will probably determine which widgets to place "on the dashboard" in way that is similar to the Mac OS/X dashboard interface — they will press something and a set of available widget icons will appear at the bottom of the screen and they will be able to drag them onto the dashboard.
Anyway, my prediction... we'll see how I do in a month
---
By the way, they will not demo the 4th generation iPhone in March, they will wait until April or May.
And align against them is what they want to do. They have seen the music industry be squeezed by Apple and though I believe it is not a bad thing (someone had to do it) the movie industry and television companies are not exactly eager to jump into bed with Apple. Other avenues through Netflix, Hulu, and others may gain traction.
However I think the problem with the apple way to a movie company is why make a deal for content to apple only products? This is all the more true with television content. Why would a company want to siphon themselves off from the rest of the potential money to be made. I think these video media companies are trying to figure how they really want to do this and how are they going to maximize profit.
I have one word for the movie industry....'Redbox' $1 video rental soon to be in every, grocery store, convenience store and gas station near you! F the movie/cable and TV industries!
Did you see the 3hr. NBC winter Olympics presentation Saturday night? Out of 3 hours 1.54 hrs. were commercials, 11 minutes were replays, 12 minutes were special interest stories and 17 minutes was watching Bill Costas 'talking' next to his on set fireplace! It's like eating at McDonald's- just crap!
I'm happy with my Apple TV the way it is. I guess I'm not your average user but my biggest complaint is that there's no way (that I've found) to play an entire season of a TV show without pressing play after each episode finishes.
Me too, Rich...there is a real convergence of not just movies but my photos, my music, my ripped DVD's and just before xmas AppleTV added internet radio, most without any commercials! all the stereo cables, stereo boxes, tuners, power plugs, attenna have been replaced by one HDMI cable and the AppleTV's elegant 'box!'
Who wants to bet that they're developing a secret OS X that runs on ARM? I don't know much about ARM, but could it compete with an i7 as far as GHz or scalability?
Does no one here read for content anymore?
Quote:
It must suck to be a developer not knowing when Apple will switch processor platforms. I know if I was M$ or Adobe, I'd hate to rewrite everything again to support a new instruction set.
Apple isn't about to switch platforms on the desktop or even the notebooks. The differences in capability are massive here.
Thanks for the clarity. So many people hate the Apple TV for delivering what is without a doubt a spiritless experience. However, 100% of that is directly attributable to content providers for doing what they do best--trying to find out ways of fucking consumers instead of figuring out the best way to give them what they want--content.
That is the single reason why I pirate, and I'll be happy to admit as much if some idiotic content owner were to ask me why I do so. They claim it takes away from their revenue, but I'd be happy to pay for their product and add to their revenue if they gave me what I want, how I wanted it.
I don't need silly, arbitrary constraints of content. The fact that I have 24 hours to view a rental is the most ridiculous concept known to mankind. It's like an executive got hit with a anvil upside his head, spit out this 24-hour nonsense in a moment of semi-conscisouness, and it became so.
And I can view Season 1 of TV Show X and Season 3, but not Season 2?? because...well, I could care less what the reason is. I'd pay for it if it was available, but as it stands I am firing up Vuze and downloading FREE content to my heart's content.
*high five
The sheeple here will tear you down for your comment thou... they gave up their will for freedom and prefer to be obedient regardless of what they are fed.
Comments
I'm not sure if the living room will exist for decades to come... Kinda like the dining room is disappearing now...
With clever use of overlays and simulated environs, the walls of our houses will simply disappear and become another information/entertainment delivery device.
With clever use of overlays and simulated environs, the walls of our houses will simply disappear and become another information/entertainment delivery device.
The iHouse... I think I saw the prototype on youtube once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHO8l-Bd1O4
Apple TV = Hobby primarily because cracking the Oligarchy of the Broadcast media is a bit tougher than cracking the music industry. If Apple can deliver lower cost shows and broadband speeds and penetration rise they could be onto something but right now the infrastructure isn't ready. I know of so many areas where Comcast is the only "real" broadband company. .
Exactly...I just read today in the WSJ Movie Studios currently make only $400 million per year from downloads, $18 Billion from DVD sales, $14 Billion from paid and unpaid TV airings and $9 Billion from theatre ticket sales....
$400,000 million on downloads! Talk about being in its 'Infancy!' The big question is can they quantify the bit.torrent losses by not moving quicker with Apple/AppleTV? I would estimate that just like the music industry they are losing millions each day in pirated movies!
Sheez! Get on board! There is a 'tectonic shift' in the way media is going to be consumed!
Edit: A Billion is a thousand million!
Edit: I think I have those numbers right...doing it from memory!
Edit: ABC News has just restructured and by the sounds of it is laying off 25% of its personnel.
Apple TV = Hobby primarily because cracking the Oligarchy of the Broadcast media is a bit tougher than cracking the music industry. If Apple can deliver lower cost shows and broadband speeds and penetration rise they could be onto something.
Hey, the negotiations with the broadcast media for iPad content, such as the 99¢ TV shows with ABC and CBS, are going to be good for the Apple TV. It may be a hobby, but it plays well with their overall strategy.
I'm not sure if the living room will exist for decades to come... Kinda like the dining room is disappearing now (merging to the living room)... Soon it will just be "the room" because there will be no focus and everyone will use their iPad or iGoggles or whatever new convergent device is out.
My living/dining room is kind of like that, the only boundary is the edge of carpet to wood floor. For a long time, first time visitors thought there wasn't even a TV. There is a ceiling mounted projector that seems to hide in plain sight, you don't see a screen if it's off.
But Apple doesn't seem to want to do or try anything new to the Apple TV to make it a more compelling product. How can they grow the market and make it worthwhile when ATV has stayed basically the same aside from a few software updates? What, exactly, is holding them back? If Mr. Cook wants some ideas, I've got a long list of ideas.
I really don't get it either. The Apple of a few years ago probably would have just dumped the product. At the very least, it seems they could offer a streaming video plan, partner with Netflix, Hulu or do their own system. Hardware-wise, they could drop an A4 or a successor in there, offer one without a hard drive and sell it for less. They keep saying that below $200 is their hottest price point that gets people buying their iPods, why not do the same for AppleTV? A4 should cost less per unit than a discrete intel CPU, support chipset & nvidia GPU.
Yes I think the "Hobby" refrain coming from Apple is a bit silly. An unenthused Apple isn't going to deliver great products and if they cannot deliver great products then they need to open up iTunes so that purchases play nicely on other hardware boxen.
The movie industry was adamant that Apple not get the type of control they have with music distribution and they do have more options because Apple never delivered the magic bullet in the Apple TV as compared to the iPod Magic Bullet.
Apple has to swim upstream just like everyone else.
The problem isn't that Apple TV isn't a good product or that iTunes content isn't playable on other companies devices. The problem is that iTunes content isn't good enough to replace cable. No online solution is and the content providers want to keep it that way. Cable brings them a lot of money and they don't want to risk that revenue stream by making online content too attractive.
What Apple needs for Apple TV is a distribution deal that will allow iTunes to provide a better service than cable currently does. Once they have that, Apple TV becomes very attractive as is. You would buy Apple TV just like you buy a digital cable box now. To get that deal though, Apple has keep Apple TV low profile. Content providers are attached to cable, but they are also greedy. If Apple can convince them that a better iTunes deal will bring them more customers outside of the living room they might go for it. That is precisely why Apple is using the iPad to negotiate 99 cent episodes instead of an improved Apple TV. Once Apple gets the deal they need, they can bring out the new and improved Apple TV and make their push into the living room.
Decoupling internet service providers and television content providers is probably one of the toughest things to do, but that is exactly what we need to happen if we ever want truly great online content distribution, be it from iTunes, Hulu, Netflix or something else. Making Apple TV better than it is now is trivial when compared to getting a content deal that is competitive with cable.
Curious how Apple seem almost completely uninterested in the living room. Microsoft, Sony, Netflix, and others will own it for decades to come.
I don't think people spend that much time in the living room. I think Apple would hit the Auto Industry before taking over living room.
Apple TV is very hard to achieve as the Broadcasting industry is being so hard to crack.
Plus people can play iPhone and iPad in the living room, so its not all that bad.
The problem isn't that Apple TV isn't a good product or that iTunes content isn't playable on other companies devices. The problem is that iTunes content isn't good enough to replace cable. No online solution is and the content providers want to keep it that way. Cable brings them a lot of money and they don't want to risk that revenue stream by making online content too attractive.
What Apple needs for Apple TV is a distribution deal that will allow iTunes to provide a better service than cable currently does. Once they have that, Apple TV becomes very attractive as is. You would buy Apple TV just like you buy a digital cable box now. To get that deal though, Apple has keep Apple TV low profile. Content providers are attached to cable, but they are also greedy. If Apple can convince them that a better iTunes deal will bring them more customers outside of the living room they might go for it. That is precisely why Apple is using the iPad to negotiate 99 cent episodes instead of an improved Apple TV. Once Apple gets the deal they need, they can bring out the new and improved Apple TV and make their push into the living room.
Decoupling internet service providers and television content providers is probably one of the toughest things to do, but that is exactly what we need to happen if we ever want truly great online content distribution, be it from iTunes, Hulu, Netflix or something else. Making Apple TV better than it is now is trivial when compared to getting a content deal that is competitive with cable.
Holly crap! That is very well written!
I don't think people spend that much time in the living room. I think Apple would hit the Auto Industry before taking over living room.
Apple TV is very hard to achieve as the Broadcasting industry is being so hard to crack.
Plus people can play iPhone and iPad in the living room, so its not all that bad.
I would respectfully disagree about 'spending time in the living room!' TV and movies not to mention games take up a lot of time...
I enjoy watching movies on my AppleTV. I want to support Apple in 'cracking' the studios.
On a side note the only reason I have cable is so I can watch Formula one races in HD on SpeedTV.
I hate to say this but I'm very close to giving up on cable....and forgoing F1 this season....and only watch movies....Maybe I can bit.torrent HD F1 races...not sure though.
But the money I save by not having cable I could invest in a 27" iMac and a "n" Time capsule...up my internet speed to the max...Just saying!
Wal-Mart just bought Vudu. Between Netflix, Wal-Mart, Hulu and a host of other options, Apple may need to get more serious about AppleTV soon or they will be pushed off the cliff by the movie industry and these other companies aligning against them.
And align against them is what they want to do. They have seen the music industry be squeezed by Apple and though I believe it is not a bad thing (someone had to do it) the movie industry and television companies are not exactly eager to jump into bed with Apple. Other avenues through Netflix, Hulu, and others may gain traction.
However I think the problem with the apple way to a movie company is why make a deal for content to apple only products? This is all the more true with television content. Why would a company want to siphon themselves off from the rest of the potential money to be made. I think these video media companies are trying to figure how they really want to do this and how are they going to maximize profit.
In middle-to-late March, Apple will host an event demonstrating iPhone/iPad OS 4 — like many are predicting, it will include a dashboard-like feature. Developers will be able two write two types of dashboard widgets:
- Standalone — simple widgets such as the weather widget that is on the Mac OS/X dashboard as well as the similar one on the current iPhone.
- Application Widgets — These have a full application associated with them, but also have a widget that you can display quickly.
The "Application Widgets" will allow the user to run apps in the background. So, for example, Pandora could write a widget that is connected to their app that will keep playing music in the background and display a set of play/pause/skip controls along with the name of the song playing, etc. Apple's own iPod/Music app will have a dashboard widget for controlling it as well.The user will probably determine which widgets to place "on the dashboard" in way that is similar to the Mac OS/X dashboard interface — they will press something and a set of available widget icons will appear at the bottom of the screen and they will be able to drag them onto the dashboard.
Anyway, my prediction... we'll see how I do in a month
---
By the way, they will not demo the 4th generation iPhone in March, they will wait until April or May.
And align against them is what they want to do. They have seen the music industry be squeezed by Apple and though I believe it is not a bad thing (someone had to do it) the movie industry and television companies are not exactly eager to jump into bed with Apple. Other avenues through Netflix, Hulu, and others may gain traction.
However I think the problem with the apple way to a movie company is why make a deal for content to apple only products? This is all the more true with television content. Why would a company want to siphon themselves off from the rest of the potential money to be made. I think these video media companies are trying to figure how they really want to do this and how are they going to maximize profit.
I have one word for the movie industry....'Redbox' $1 video rental soon to be in every, grocery store, convenience store and gas station near you! F the movie/cable and TV industries!
Did you see the 3hr. NBC winter Olympics presentation Saturday night? Out of 3 hours 1.54 hrs. were commercials, 11 minutes were replays, 12 minutes were special interest stories and 17 minutes was watching Bill Costas 'talking' next to his on set fireplace! It's like eating at McDonald's- just crap!
I'm happy with my Apple TV the way it is. I guess I'm not your average user but my biggest complaint is that there's no way (that I've found) to play an entire season of a TV show without pressing play after each episode finishes.
Me too, Rich...there is a real convergence of not just movies but my photos, my music, my ripped DVD's and just before xmas AppleTV added internet radio, most without any commercials! all the stereo cables, stereo boxes, tuners, power plugs, attenna have been replaced by one HDMI cable and the AppleTV's elegant 'box!'
The Mac OS is "amazingly scalable,"
Linux does the same.
Who wants to bet that they're developing a secret OS X that runs on ARM? I don't know much about ARM, but could it compete with an i7 as far as GHz or scalability?
Does no one here read for content anymore?
It must suck to be a developer not knowing when Apple will switch processor platforms. I know if I was M$ or Adobe, I'd hate to rewrite everything again to support a new instruction set.
Apple isn't about to switch platforms on the desktop or even the notebooks. The differences in capability are massive here.
Dave
Thanks for the clarity. So many people hate the Apple TV for delivering what is without a doubt a spiritless experience. However, 100% of that is directly attributable to content providers for doing what they do best--trying to find out ways of fucking consumers instead of figuring out the best way to give them what they want--content.
That is the single reason why I pirate, and I'll be happy to admit as much if some idiotic content owner were to ask me why I do so. They claim it takes away from their revenue, but I'd be happy to pay for their product and add to their revenue if they gave me what I want, how I wanted it.
I don't need silly, arbitrary constraints of content. The fact that I have 24 hours to view a rental is the most ridiculous concept known to mankind. It's like an executive got hit with a anvil upside his head, spit out this 24-hour nonsense in a moment of semi-conscisouness, and it became so.
And I can view Season 1 of TV Show X and Season 3, but not Season 2?? because...well, I could care less what the reason is. I'd pay for it if it was available, but as it stands I am firing up Vuze and downloading FREE content to my heart's content.
*high five
The sheeple here will tear you down for your comment thou... they gave up their will for freedom and prefer to be obedient regardless of what they are fed.