Apple Hi Fi is the #2 selling external speaker for the ipod - certainly not a flop considering it's $300 each.
Apple is not doing subscription or rental of any kind - TAKES TOO MUCH WORK. Apple just wants to sell it to you and be done with it. If you want to hack the file open to make it DRM free or record the stream - Apple doesn't care anymore but if they "rent" it to you - they have to keep on top of that 24/7 - not worth it at this point. At some point, where there are 50 Apple TV's out there ... maybe ...
Considering that Target had a fire sale on the Hi-Fi's to get rid of them, I doubt they were a roaring success either.
Personally, I'm hoping the real reason for the delay was that it too longer than anticipated to get all of the 720p content ready for the iTunes store. Otherwise this product seems like a pretty lame duck.
Imagine the conversation at the Apple Store concerning this:
Customer: So this thing does 720p?
Apple Employee: Yep, that's right. Glorious HD on that widescreen TV of yours!
Customer: So I can get 720p content on the iTunes Store?
Apple Employee: (looks around nervously before answering) No. Sorry, I think that gentleman over there needs help.
Customer: (grabbing employee's arm) What do you mean no? So where can I get 720p content for it?
Apple Employee: (leans really close to customer and whispers) Well, if you go buy an Xbox 360 instead, you can get it from the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's what I do at home. (Apple employee straightens up and returns to normal volume) If you don't have any more questions, I really need to help the other customers now.
Customer: (puts down AppleTV box and turns to another employee) So where are the Xbox 360's?
Personally, I'm in the category that likes to own since I generally can tell whether I'll like a movie before I see it. But buying a stream of data from iTunes hardly feels like ownership. Especially with no extras to speak of. The AppleTV could be an intriguing item some day if Apple opened it up to more media content. I want a networked DVD changer that the AppleTV's in the house could access. I don't want to be locked buying content from the iTunes Store.
I know one thing Apple LOVES... Cash. With iTunes Bit Torrent you get:
Way more Apple TVs sold = Cash
$20 - $40 subscription fees = almost all profit with the only cost of paying the royalties. They have NO server/bandwidth fees. This is the only way a subscription model will be profitable. Any one company who has to pay all those server/bandwidth fees will never make a profit unless they charge for it or have revenue from a side business.
If people have a subscription they are going to have a huge music library constantly craving iPods with biger HDs. More cash for Apple.
With no Server/Bandwith fees they can price the subscription very competitively. How will new entrants enter the market if they have to pay for Servers/Bandwidth?
All of Apple's pay-to-own Music/TV/Movies could be moved to these Apple TV Bit Torrent boxes cutting their Bandwith costs for iTunes which = Cash.
All System update bandwidth could be trafficed to Apple TV hard drives.
There is a Huge amount of Cash available. That's what Jobs wants! 10 Billion and growing. It's his personal vendetta.
The main limitation out there is the amount of bandwidth. With iTunes Bit Torrent, Apple will own a huge percent of media distribution AND bandwidth. They would control Everything. That's what Apple always does!
I don't see why this isn't possible.
People have either forgotten, or just don't know, that shortly after iTunes became a hit, Jobs was asked in an interview, if Apple would ever do subscriptions.
His answer was that if Apple saw a need for it, they would do it.
I haven't forgotten that. So, I think it's possible.
A POINTLESS PRODUCT THAT WILL FILL A VERY SMALL VOID IN SOMEONE'S LIFE. I don't see it really taking off.
First off, I think you're wrong, and the sales will prove that. And you want to know the biggest convenience this will give me? The ability to watch video podcasts without having to drop everything that I'm doing on my computer. I watch TV and use my computer all the time, but with video podcasts I can't do both unless I shrink the window down and work all my other windows around it.
Here we go again with people saying AppleTV doesn't make sense or needs some extra magical bittorrent or tivo or cold fusion feature that they've been hiding.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
Here we go again with people saying AppleTV doesn't make sense or needs some extra magical bittorrent or tivo or cold fusion feature that they've been hiding.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
Here we go again with people saying AppleTV doesn't make sense or needs some extra magical bittorrent or tivo or cold fusion feature that they've been hiding.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
No, but they do need content, specifically 720p content, for it to be a success. The more content the more likely it is going to be a success. Also with video there is a greater chance of success if an alternative to a full purchase price per movie/TV show is offered, at least unless that price is close enough to current rental prices to satisfy the consumer who is more likely to rent $20 in movies (4-6 movies) a week than they are to buy 2 movies for that same $20.
I want to own my own media. I know a lot of other strange folk such as myself, too. We?re out there! Rental/exploding media options are nice to have relative to movies (they are useless for music) but the sort of features that inspire me to purchase products like this revolve around long-term ownership.
That's why both options -- rent and buy -- should be available to downloaders. That's the DVD model, and the same reasoning applies here: Some people want to rent, and some people want to buy.
The rental model is another issue entirely. If Apple had a comparable catalog to Netflix and a comparable subscription plan, I would probably buy an Apple TV and cancel my Netflix subscription.
Since Apple would not need to physically deliver the movies, I assume the pricing would either be a la carte or so many titles a month. Even if Apple limited how many movies I could watch in a month, it beats picking my movies three days in advance. I love Netflix, and I see where they're going with Watch Now, but Apple could do better.
(And if Apple brought out a TV package similar to cable, I'd consider sending Comcast packing as well.)
Imagine the conversation at the Apple Store concerning this:
Customer: So this thing does 720p?
Apple Employee: Yep, that's right. Glorious HD on that widescreen TV of yours!
Customer: So I can get 720p content on the iTunes Store?
Apple Employee: (looks around nervously before answering) No. Sorry, I think that gentleman over there needs help.
Customer: (grabbing employee's arm) What do you mean no? So where can I get 720p content for it?
Apple Employee: (leans really close to customer and whispers) Well, if you go buy an Xbox 360 instead, you can get it from the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's what I do at home. (Apple employee straightens up and returns to normal volume) If you don't have any more questions, I really need to help the other customers now.
Customer: (puts down AppleTV box and turns to another employee) So where are the Xbox 360's?
Raises an interesting point: The stuff that I have downloaded from iTunes so far is, at most, 480p (I think), and the stuff that I've h4ndbr4k3d for my iPod is 320x240...... won't these look like cr4p on an HDTV?
At the very least, Apple should allow me to re-download the iTunes stuff at 720p.
Quote:
Originally Posted by caliminius
I don't want to be locked buying content from the iTunes Store.
This is also problematic.
I just can't understand why -- even for IP reasons -- Apple will not let me stream the DVDs playing on my computer, wirelessly, via AppleTV. It would be just the equivalent of a wireless DVD player, that's all?!
One more question: What exactly would this thing use its 40 gig HD for?
(I wouldn't be surprised if an 80-gig version that addresses issues such as these is out by Christmas..... I'll probably wait until then before deciding, unless the early user reviews here start to suggest o/w).
Wait until Apple rolls out AppleTV with iSight/iChat integration. No reason it can't be done. Maybe that will be one of the first hacks. Plug in iSight via USB and bingo.
There isn't a separate USB iSight that I've seen. I'm pretty sure they were all Firewire units. It's possible that they will make one. The advantage the Firewire one had was that it used the industry standard DV codec, so any program that understood DV can use it as an input device without other weird drivers.
1) AppleInsider journalists (snicker) are neither journalists or "the media."
2) From the start you will be able to see photos, movie trailers, high def video podcasts and high-def home movies in 720p on this thing, not to mention the fact that all the menus and graphics are in high-def. I betcha Apple has something up their sleeve to sell high-def TV and movie downloads too.
3) This product will have a slow start at first. Give it a few years and it'll be a big hit.
At the very least, Apple should allow me to re-download the iTunes stuff at 720p.
I remember Steve saying in that DRM blog of his he felt if you bought music once (say on viny), why buy again on CD... digital etc... you already own it.
By his point, whatever video you bought on iTunes, if they re-release everything in 720p you SHOULD be able to download for free again. But then there'll be 1080p. Soon there'll be something bigger than 1080p and everyone will complain.
Personally if it doesn't support DivX I have absolutely no interest in this product whatsoever. But then Apple will never support DivX.
Apple Employee: Yep, that's right. Glorious HD on that widescreen TV of yours!
Customer: So I can get 720p content on the iTunes Store?
Apple Employee: (looks around nervously before answering) No. Sorry, I think that gentleman over there needs help.
Customer: (grabbing employee's arm) What do you mean no? So where can I get 720p content for it?
Apple Employee: (leans really close to customer and whispers) Well, if you go buy an Xbox 360 instead, you can get it from the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's what I do at home. (Apple employee straightens up and returns to normal volume) If you don't have any more questions, I really need to help the other customers now.
Customer: (puts down AppleTV box and turns to another employee) So where are the Xbox 360's?
This is, so far, the crux of the matter for me. I buy a decent amount of TV shows on iTunes (for shows I forget to record or that I'm so far behind on that they get deleted) and I like the idea of being able to easily view my photos and play my music through my HDTV. However, the HD DVR in the living room can't play my iTunes purchases, nor can it display my photos or play my music (even if I eventually get a Tivo Series 3, it won't play my mostly AAC iTunes library).
So, I'm basically an ideal Apple TV customer. But given that I find watching non-HD content on my HDTV excruciating, why would I want to stream 480p iTunes TV shows that don't even look that hot on my 20" iMac monitor? I mean, streaming photos and music would be great, but the TV aspect is the key selling point here. I can bring people into the bedroom for 5 minutes to look at photos. I can hook my iPod up to the stereo or pop a CD in the DVD player. But I really don't like watching TV shows on my computer compared to watching them in a comfortable living room on an HDTV. So the "TV" part of Apple TV is the biggest selling point for me. Unfortunately, until I can watch HD content on it, I'm not interested.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CosmoNut
I betcha Apple has something up their sleeve to sell high-def TV and movie downloads too.
And as soon as they put that card on the table, I'll buy their product. Without hesitation.
Wait until Apple rolls out AppleTV with iSight/iChat integration. No reason it can't be done. Maybe that will be one of the first hacks. Plug in iSight via USB and bingo.
Now that is a killer app!
Bring your whole family right into your sitting room via iSight/iChat AV video conferencing with the Mac tucked away in the Office.
Can say I'd use it myself but I'm convinced there's a market for that; as it stands I don't see much interest in the current AppleTV.
Originally I thoyght we'd see Airport Express just get a video upgrade. Apple TV would be much more vaulable if it could be used more like that too.
I'll just buy a PS3 (months from now), put linux on it. Play all HD Codecs with superior horsepower... not the norm market i know, but it will work for me and have the bonus of blu-ray and gaming
Here we go again with people saying AppleTV doesn't make sense or needs some extra magical bittorrent or tivo or cold fusion feature that they've been hiding.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
The reason why people are saying this doesn't make sense is because it doesn't. Not in the standpoint of what it does but givin Apple's track record since the return of SJ. With the exception of the Cube every one of Apple's products has been a big hit. This one targets too small of a market share which Apple hasn't targeted in the past 5yrs.
These markets are there but they're small
-Navigate for Music/Podcasts through the TV
-View Photos on TV
-Purchasers of iTunes TV shows who own an HDTV and want to spend extra $300 to watch on TV.
-To get less functionality and quality of DVD and pay extra $300 for iTunes movies.
I remind you, there is a market for this product but what people don't understand is that Apple has only gone after big markets before. This doesn't mean this product won't appeal to some people, it's just inconsistant with the past 5ish years.
There has to be more to it unless:
-Jobs is trying to give the Movie studios more incentive to get movies on iTunes.
-Apple is starting to target smaller markets than they have in the past which is possible.
Finally, this product should not have been delayed for any type of technical reasons. It is a simple product for Apple to deliver. What's taking them so long?
Wait until Apple rolls out AppleTV with iSight/iChat integration. No reason it can't be done. Maybe that will be one of the first hacks. Plug in iSight via USB and bingo.
Yea, great idea! But can't Apple come up with a display with a camera right in the middle of the display? ie... it can see me but I can't see it. One reason Video Conferencing seems to stupid is because to make it look like you're looking straight into the eyes of the other person you yourself have to be looking at a webcam that's off to the side or up on top of your screen. It really weekens the experience.
Comments
Glad I could help, after all you did ask the question!!
Actually, you didn't answer my question, but rather, just blew me off....
If you want to connect this:
<snip>
to this:
<snip
without this:
Now, THAT is brilliant!
You are starting to make me re-think this thing......
Apple Hi Fi is the #2 selling external speaker for the ipod - certainly not a flop considering it's $300 each.
Apple is not doing subscription or rental of any kind - TAKES TOO MUCH WORK. Apple just wants to sell it to you and be done with it. If you want to hack the file open to make it DRM free or record the stream - Apple doesn't care anymore but if they "rent" it to you - they have to keep on top of that 24/7 - not worth it at this point. At some point, where there are 50 Apple TV's out there ... maybe ...
Considering that Target had a fire sale on the Hi-Fi's to get rid of them, I doubt they were a roaring success either.
Personally, I'm hoping the real reason for the delay was that it too longer than anticipated to get all of the 720p content ready for the iTunes store. Otherwise this product seems like a pretty lame duck.
Imagine the conversation at the Apple Store concerning this:
Customer: So this thing does 720p?
Apple Employee: Yep, that's right. Glorious HD on that widescreen TV of yours!
Customer: So I can get 720p content on the iTunes Store?
Apple Employee: (looks around nervously before answering) No. Sorry, I think that gentleman over there needs help.
Customer: (grabbing employee's arm) What do you mean no? So where can I get 720p content for it?
Apple Employee: (leans really close to customer and whispers) Well, if you go buy an Xbox 360 instead, you can get it from the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's what I do at home. (Apple employee straightens up and returns to normal volume) If you don't have any more questions, I really need to help the other customers now.
Customer: (puts down AppleTV box and turns to another employee) So where are the Xbox 360's?
Personally, I'm in the category that likes to own since I generally can tell whether I'll like a movie before I see it. But buying a stream of data from iTunes hardly feels like ownership. Especially with no extras to speak of. The AppleTV could be an intriguing item some day if Apple opened it up to more media content. I want a networked DVD changer that the AppleTV's in the house could access. I don't want to be locked buying content from the iTunes Store.
I know one thing Apple LOVES... Cash. With iTunes Bit Torrent you get:
Way more Apple TVs sold = Cash
$20 - $40 subscription fees = almost all profit with the only cost of paying the royalties. They have NO server/bandwidth fees. This is the only way a subscription model will be profitable. Any one company who has to pay all those server/bandwidth fees will never make a profit unless they charge for it or have revenue from a side business.
If people have a subscription they are going to have a huge music library constantly craving iPods with biger HDs. More cash for Apple.
With no Server/Bandwith fees they can price the subscription very competitively. How will new entrants enter the market if they have to pay for Servers/Bandwidth?
All of Apple's pay-to-own Music/TV/Movies could be moved to these Apple TV Bit Torrent boxes cutting their Bandwith costs for iTunes which = Cash.
All System update bandwidth could be trafficed to Apple TV hard drives.
There is a Huge amount of Cash available. That's what Jobs wants! 10 Billion and growing. It's his personal vendetta.
The main limitation out there is the amount of bandwidth. With iTunes Bit Torrent, Apple will own a huge percent of media distribution AND bandwidth. They would control Everything. That's what Apple always does!
I don't see why this isn't possible.
People have either forgotten, or just don't know, that shortly after iTunes became a hit, Jobs was asked in an interview, if Apple would ever do subscriptions.
His answer was that if Apple saw a need for it, they would do it.
I haven't forgotten that. So, I think it's possible.
A POINTLESS PRODUCT THAT WILL FILL A VERY SMALL VOID IN SOMEONE'S LIFE. I don't see it really taking off.
First off, I think you're wrong, and the sales will prove that. And you want to know the biggest convenience this will give me? The ability to watch video podcasts without having to drop everything that I'm doing on my computer. I watch TV and use my computer all the time, but with video podcasts I can't do both unless I shrink the window down and work all my other windows around it.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
Here we go again with people saying AppleTV doesn't make sense or needs some extra magical bittorrent or tivo or cold fusion feature that they've been hiding.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
People think conspiracy theories are so fun.
Here we go again with people saying AppleTV doesn't make sense or needs some extra magical bittorrent or tivo or cold fusion feature that they've been hiding.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
No, but they do need content, specifically 720p content, for it to be a success. The more content the more likely it is going to be a success. Also with video there is a greater chance of success if an alternative to a full purchase price per movie/TV show is offered, at least unless that price is close enough to current rental prices to satisfy the consumer who is more likely to rent $20 in movies (4-6 movies) a week than they are to buy 2 movies for that same $20.
I want to own my own media. I know a lot of other strange folk such as myself, too. We?re out there! Rental/exploding media options are nice to have relative to movies (they are useless for music) but the sort of features that inspire me to purchase products like this revolve around long-term ownership.
That's why both options -- rent and buy -- should be available to downloaders. That's the DVD model, and the same reasoning applies here: Some people want to rent, and some people want to buy.
The rental model is another issue entirely. If Apple had a comparable catalog to Netflix and a comparable subscription plan, I would probably buy an Apple TV and cancel my Netflix subscription.
Since Apple would not need to physically deliver the movies, I assume the pricing would either be a la carte or so many titles a month. Even if Apple limited how many movies I could watch in a month, it beats picking my movies three days in advance. I love Netflix, and I see where they're going with Watch Now, but Apple could do better.
(And if Apple brought out a TV package similar to cable, I'd consider sending Comcast packing as well.)
a. I don't own a HDTV yet.
b. This generation only does 720p. I will wait for the full 1080p version.
Imagine the conversation at the Apple Store concerning this:
Customer: So this thing does 720p?
Apple Employee: Yep, that's right. Glorious HD on that widescreen TV of yours!
Customer: So I can get 720p content on the iTunes Store?
Apple Employee: (looks around nervously before answering) No. Sorry, I think that gentleman over there needs help.
Customer: (grabbing employee's arm) What do you mean no? So where can I get 720p content for it?
Apple Employee: (leans really close to customer and whispers) Well, if you go buy an Xbox 360 instead, you can get it from the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's what I do at home. (Apple employee straightens up and returns to normal volume) If you don't have any more questions, I really need to help the other customers now.
Customer: (puts down AppleTV box and turns to another employee) So where are the Xbox 360's?
Raises an interesting point: The stuff that I have downloaded from iTunes so far is, at most, 480p (I think), and the stuff that I've h4ndbr4k3d for my iPod is 320x240...... won't these look like cr4p on an HDTV?
At the very least, Apple should allow me to re-download the iTunes stuff at 720p.
I don't want to be locked buying content from the iTunes Store.
This is also problematic.
I just can't understand why -- even for IP reasons -- Apple will not let me stream the DVDs playing on my computer, wirelessly, via AppleTV. It would be just the equivalent of a wireless DVD player, that's all?!
One more question: What exactly would this thing use its 40 gig HD for?
(I wouldn't be surprised if an 80-gig version that addresses issues such as these is out by Christmas..... I'll probably wait until then before deciding, unless the early user reviews here start to suggest o/w).
Wait until Apple rolls out AppleTV with iSight/iChat integration. No reason it can't be done. Maybe that will be one of the first hacks. Plug in iSight via USB and bingo.
There isn't a separate USB iSight that I've seen. I'm pretty sure they were all Firewire units. It's possible that they will make one. The advantage the Firewire one had was that it used the industry standard DV codec, so any program that understood DV can use it as an input device without other weird drivers.
If you want to connect this:
Very nice desk setup.
1) AppleInsider journalists (snicker) are neither journalists or "the media."
2) From the start you will be able to see photos, movie trailers, high def video podcasts and high-def home movies in 720p on this thing, not to mention the fact that all the menus and graphics are in high-def. I betcha Apple has something up their sleeve to sell high-def TV and movie downloads too.
3) This product will have a slow start at first. Give it a few years and it'll be a big hit.
At the very least, Apple should allow me to re-download the iTunes stuff at 720p.
I remember Steve saying in that DRM blog of his he felt if you bought music once (say on viny), why buy again on CD... digital etc... you already own it.
By his point, whatever video you bought on iTunes, if they re-release everything in 720p you SHOULD be able to download for free again. But then there'll be 1080p. Soon there'll be something bigger than 1080p and everyone will complain.
Personally if it doesn't support DivX I have absolutely no interest in this product whatsoever. But then Apple will never support DivX.
Customer: So this thing does 720p?
Apple Employee: Yep, that's right. Glorious HD on that widescreen TV of yours!
Customer: So I can get 720p content on the iTunes Store?
Apple Employee: (looks around nervously before answering) No. Sorry, I think that gentleman over there needs help.
Customer: (grabbing employee's arm) What do you mean no? So where can I get 720p content for it?
Apple Employee: (leans really close to customer and whispers) Well, if you go buy an Xbox 360 instead, you can get it from the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's what I do at home. (Apple employee straightens up and returns to normal volume) If you don't have any more questions, I really need to help the other customers now.
Customer: (puts down AppleTV box and turns to another employee) So where are the Xbox 360's?
This is, so far, the crux of the matter for me. I buy a decent amount of TV shows on iTunes (for shows I forget to record or that I'm so far behind on that they get deleted) and I like the idea of being able to easily view my photos and play my music through my HDTV. However, the HD DVR in the living room can't play my iTunes purchases, nor can it display my photos or play my music (even if I eventually get a Tivo Series 3, it won't play my mostly AAC iTunes library).
So, I'm basically an ideal Apple TV customer. But given that I find watching non-HD content on my HDTV excruciating, why would I want to stream 480p iTunes TV shows that don't even look that hot on my 20" iMac monitor? I mean, streaming photos and music would be great, but the TV aspect is the key selling point here. I can bring people into the bedroom for 5 minutes to look at photos. I can hook my iPod up to the stereo or pop a CD in the DVD player. But I really don't like watching TV shows on my computer compared to watching them in a comfortable living room on an HDTV. So the "TV" part of Apple TV is the biggest selling point for me. Unfortunately, until I can watch HD content on it, I'm not interested.
I betcha Apple has something up their sleeve to sell high-def TV and movie downloads too.
And as soon as they put that card on the table, I'll buy their product. Without hesitation.
Wait until Apple rolls out AppleTV with iSight/iChat integration. No reason it can't be done. Maybe that will be one of the first hacks. Plug in iSight via USB and bingo.
Now that is a killer app!
Bring your whole family right into your sitting room via iSight/iChat AV video conferencing with the Mac tucked away in the Office.
Can say I'd use it myself but I'm convinced there's a market for that; as it stands I don't see much interest in the current AppleTV.
Originally I thoyght we'd see Airport Express just get a video upgrade. Apple TV would be much more vaulable if it could be used more like that too.
Very nice desk setup.
I'll just buy a PS3 (months from now), put linux on it. Play all HD Codecs with superior horsepower... not the norm market i know, but it will work for me
Here we go again with people saying AppleTV doesn't make sense or needs some extra magical bittorrent or tivo or cold fusion feature that they've been hiding.
The idea is very straightforward: If you have video on your computer that you don't want to just watch on your computer in your office, you use this to watch it on your TV in your living room. And photos, and your music, and with a nice interface. It's a very logical step for Apple, and doesn't need some secret incredible feature to make it.
The reason why people are saying this doesn't make sense is because it doesn't. Not in the standpoint of what it does but givin Apple's track record since the return of SJ. With the exception of the Cube every one of Apple's products has been a big hit. This one targets too small of a market share which Apple hasn't targeted in the past 5yrs.
These markets are there but they're small
-Navigate for Music/Podcasts through the TV
-View Photos on TV
-Purchasers of iTunes TV shows who own an HDTV and want to spend extra $300 to watch on TV.
-To get less functionality and quality of DVD and pay extra $300 for iTunes movies.
I remind you, there is a market for this product but what people don't understand is that Apple has only gone after big markets before. This doesn't mean this product won't appeal to some people, it's just inconsistant with the past 5ish years.
There has to be more to it unless:
-Jobs is trying to give the Movie studios more incentive to get movies on iTunes.
-Apple is starting to target smaller markets than they have in the past which is possible.
Finally, this product should not have been delayed for any type of technical reasons. It is a simple product for Apple to deliver. What's taking them so long?
Wait until Apple rolls out AppleTV with iSight/iChat integration. No reason it can't be done. Maybe that will be one of the first hacks. Plug in iSight via USB and bingo.
Yea, great idea! But can't Apple come up with a display with a camera right in the middle of the display? ie... it can see me but I can't see it. One reason Video Conferencing seems to stupid is because to make it look like you're looking straight into the eyes of the other person you yourself have to be looking at a webcam that's off to the side or up on top of your screen. It really weekens the experience.