AppleTV threat alert!
Oh, boy. Netflix is demoing Silverlight to deliver movies on demand... not good news for Apple or Apple TV.
http://news.com.com/1606-2-6180906.html
This is gonna hurt.
http://news.com.com/1606-2-6180906.html
This is gonna hurt.
Comments
iTunes can only last so long before big companies come along and be inspired by apple. then turn that inspiration to fierce competition killing what initially inspired them. i wonder if apple can endure.
i think thats the catch twenty two with apple. their the best but companies will consume their ideas and compete with crude knock offs. the thing is, eventually with enough money and determination the competition will come up with something decent.
What Apple TV brings to the market is ease of set-up and ease of use that no other product has. There are pieces to their success that are not here, and we don't know of Apple's intentions for video support other than downloaded or transcoded video imported into iTunes. I hope that Apple expands on this and puts some real focus on the success of AppleTV in it's market instead of treating it like the have the Airport line as an overpriced and under marketed product.
Oh, boy. Netflix is demoing Silverlight to deliver movies on demand... not good news for Apple or Apple TV.
http://news.com.com/1606-2-6180906.html
This is gonna hurt.
What does yet another streaming video technology have to do with Apple or AppleTV?
On-demand movies have been available on cable TV for a while, and they've created a nice market. But that's all they are - movies. People see this as an extension of their cable service (or movie rental service with Netflix), not a hub to all their media. You can say that iLife isn't what most people want; most people want movies. But Apple would kindly disagree, and if there's one part of their business it's pointless to argue with, it's their iPod/iTunes section.
Since I bought my AppleTV I've watched about 10 movies on it, and about 30 TV shows. The rest of the time it's been podcasts, music, and photo slideshows. I still watch DVDs. I still go to the theatre. But I have a box on my entertainment shelf running OS X, and with time, it's only going to become more capable and more integral to my digital entertainment.
In short, I can see myself using Netflix's movie streaming service, but I don't see it replacing my AppleTV.
What does yet another streaming video technology have to do with Apple or AppleTV?
Simply put, all it will take is MS to add Netflix services to their XBox 360, or for Netflix to align with a cable system to connect Internet downloading to your cable box, cutting out go-between systems like AppleTV. Silverlight is actually a very cool new system and a lot of content providers are looking into it.
In addition, pictures, music and other forms of content are easily piped through Silverlight, so iTunes, iPhoto, etc., become less unique.
all microsoft has to do is copy apple with a slick interface and it could work. though this is for viewing streaming media. cant take it with you or buy it.
iTunes can only last so long before big companies come along and be inspired by apple. then turn that inspiration to fierce competition killing what initially inspired them. i wonder if apple can endure.
i think thats the catch twenty two with apple. their the best but companies will consume their ideas and compete with crude knock offs. the thing is, eventually with enough money and determination the competition will come up with something decent.
The problem with the "knock-offs" so far is that they lack the simplicity of interface and the quality of integration and these are the stong points of Apple's offerings. What Microsoft is doing with this steaming tecnoloogy does not answer this and I doubt that Netflix will spend the money to develop the client software and hardware to rival the user's experience that Apple has with Apple TV. The problem with Apple right now is that they only have one (non-HD) delivery system for Apple TV and they have yet to give us any "roadmap" for how they are looking to expand their offerings to the consumer for this device. They have to know that the iTunes purchase model alone will not make this device a success, it is too limiting and currently does not offer the HD video that the device supports. Will they correct this, probably but it will happen when it happens they won't give us a heads up. It's too bad, I would buy one today if I had a way to get more media to the device without purchasing everything (legal that is) from iTMS at near DVD quality instead of the supported HD.
But MS already has movie and TV show downloads on Xbox Live, and on-demand movie downloads are already available from most cable TV providers. Adding Netflix's name or catalog won't instantly catapult those into fame and riches, but more importantly, it won't replace AppleTV either way. Not because they are completely different devices; sure, there's a lot of overlap in the types of media they present. But for every argument of the "oh my, this thing has more features" type, remember this: pretty much every MP3 player out there has more "features" than iPod (if by features we mean things like FM radio and such). There are digital music stores out there which offer subscription plans, DRM-free music, all-you-can-eat plans, lower prices, and whatnot. But none of them is putting any sort of dent in iTunes' market share.
Why? Because of how it all comes together in Apple's ecosystem. Or, if you don't buy that theory, give your own explanation of iPod's dominance, and that will be the reason why AppleTV will likely be a fairly successful product.
Right now all HD cable and I believe satelite companies are required by law to supply the consumer with a set-top box (for HD subscriptions) that includes a working FW port. In addition to that higher end TV's have FW ports as well. The free FW development kit from Apple has a virtual DVR program which can be used to record a non-protected stream directly through these devices. I believe that their is also a way to control the channels of these through the FW communication. Given this, if Apple adds a FW port they could also add in a more polished "DVR" program to Apple TV. They could also potentially add in control over the tuner in the set-top box or TV and integrate it all into iLife all with very little added cost. I don't know if the same level of control is possible via USB 2, it is with FW because the video stream is actually transmitted over the FW cable. Add in a hardware encoder chip and it could send the MP4 transcoded file directly to iTunes for cataloging with allt he
The only other hardware problems that I see are HD size, which could easily be remedied, video support for 1080p. Sure they could boost processor speed and add iin higher end video but they have to weigh that with keeping the consumer cost down.
Oh, boy. Netflix is demoing Silverlight to deliver movies on demand... not good news for Apple or Apple TV.
http://news.com.com/1606-2-6180906.html
This is gonna hurt.
It is coming to the point where Apple isn't going to be able to let "The cat out of the bag" to soon.
My point is this - they are the number one (or very close to number one) company when it comes to the "Cool Stuff" - and folks copy them like crazy.
They open many doors to cool things and technology. They create competition?
Everyone works harder to keep up, and be the first on the block with something new and exciting. We the consumer really benefit from this. But Apple may end up losing in the end.
Someone is going to come up with the next "Cool" "Hot" "Wow" item, and most likely because they are trying to catch Apple or get ahead of Apple.
Boy, it would be nice if Apple got more kudo's (in the press) for ALL that they have done and continue to do.
Just ranting.
Back when Apple announced iTV, many folks said "What"? "Why" "How'd buy that" - but once again, they have upped the bar for companies. And it's many of those same companies that are now coming out with something like "iTV" or better.
Now many are saying "Who is going to pay that kind of money for a phone" - but with what this phone / mini Mac can do, it's getting to be, you can't watch TV without seeing a new cool phone from someone.
Oh well, off to work
Skip
You are now free to go back on topic.
It's time for the Threat Down.
You are now free to go back on topic.
Sorry. Occassionally I do get off track
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Simply put, all it will take is MS to add Netflix services to their XBox 360, or for Netflix to align with a cable system to connect Internet downloading to your cable box, cutting out go-between systems like AppleTV.
That's what I was thinking. Why would I buy an Apple TV at £200 that is basically just a media streamer when I could get an XBox 360 if it could do that as well as be a next generation games console for just £280?
I love the idea of video on demand through the browser. If they could do that with new releases and charge something like £1 for a viewing, it could wipe out the cinema and I'm really hoping that something will sooner or later.
I don't see Silverlight taking off to be honest. People had enough bother adopting Flash - of course with it being Windows software they may leverage their desktop dominance but wouldn't this be anti-competitive again? If it does take off, what I'd really love to see is Adobe discontinuing their software for Windows.
...of course with it being Windows software they may leverage their desktop dominance but wouldn't this be anti-competitive again?....
When has that ever stoped Microsoft, they can make more money than it takes to fight the law suit and pay fines after the fact by implementing those technologies so there is no reason for them to change their operating procedure. Aren't they "late" in meeting requirements of the latest agreement with the EU courts in their Anti-trust case? Again buisiness as usual until the EU and US get together and break the company up, and that will never happen as long as they are spending those lobbying dollars in Washington.
If Apple were to integrate customizable controls into quicktime so that overlays on the video could be linked to "chapters" they'd have the same playback appeal.
What makes Silverlight special is that it uses .NET, Python, Ruby, AJAX and other tools to deliver a unified and cross platform media playback tool. It's not going to enable full length movies playing in your browser any more that Quicktime or other technologies.
Microsoft is betting on the rich programming options of Visual Studio and Expression Studio to overtake Adobe. They aren't targetting flash..they're targetting Apollo which is Adobe's nexgten media Web/Desktop paradigm. The battle is wide open. I look for Apple to offer cursory support for both technologies while looking to extend Quicktime to a similar point.