Steve Jobs Drops a hint of the future "media center" at Shareholders meeting.
Read The Whole Story At MacCentral
"Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted the company?s forthcoming products as ?the best I?ve ever seen in my life,? and told Apple shareholders that the Mac?s transition to Intel processors will pay off in the long run.
Jobs, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller answered investors? questions Thursday during Apple?s annual shareholder meeting at its Cupertino campus.
During the session, the three executives remained typically tight-lipped about Apple?s future product plans. When pressed by one shareholder about what product releases to expect in the future, Jobs simply said, ?I can?t tell you.?
However, Apple?s CEO didn?t let secrecy stop his enthusiasm for those secret products.
?The new products in the pipeline are the best I?ve ever seen in my life,? Jobs said.
Another shareholder requested that the company make ?the ultimate media center,? a personal video recorder that could record television programs and share media on his computer.
?We hear you loud and clear,? Jobs responded."
"Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted the company?s forthcoming products as ?the best I?ve ever seen in my life,? and told Apple shareholders that the Mac?s transition to Intel processors will pay off in the long run.
Jobs, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller answered investors? questions Thursday during Apple?s annual shareholder meeting at its Cupertino campus.
During the session, the three executives remained typically tight-lipped about Apple?s future product plans. When pressed by one shareholder about what product releases to expect in the future, Jobs simply said, ?I can?t tell you.?
However, Apple?s CEO didn?t let secrecy stop his enthusiasm for those secret products.
?The new products in the pipeline are the best I?ve ever seen in my life,? Jobs said.
Another shareholder requested that the company make ?the ultimate media center,? a personal video recorder that could record television programs and share media on his computer.
?We hear you loud and clear,? Jobs responded."
Comments
With that background, Jobs is likely to push the Mac as media center. Basically, I think he will claim that the Mac is a born-ready media center and that is what he will push.
The only things that keep a Mac from being the host server of home entertainment is hardware communications (the right jacks and plugs).
Here's an alternative interpretation of ?We hear you loud and clear":
"We heard you the first time. Now sit down and shut up, it's not going to happen."
Seriously, there's this assumption that an Apple DVR is in the works, and while that might be true, I don't think this comment can be taken as proof.
Originally posted by Kickaha
I love how such a vague answer is spun into "We're working on a DVR, and we'll ship it in the future."
Here's an alternative interpretation of ?We hear you loud and clear":
"We heard you the first time. Now sit down and shut up, it's not going to happen."
Seriously, there's this assumption that an Apple DVR is in the works, and while that might be true, I don't think this comment can be taken as proof.
Ditto...
Originally posted by jccbin
Jobs is still personally fixated on the idea that TV is dumb entertainment. Luckily, he has realized, or been told, that there are plenty of people who like dumb entertainment.
With that background, Jobs is likely to push the Mac as media center. Basically, I think he will claim that the Mac is a born-ready media center and that is what he will push.
The only things that keep a Mac from being the host server of home entertainment is hardware communications (the right jacks and plugs).
That is assuming a lot, and more in line with the Apple from before Jobs return, when they did have TV tuners and AV boards for their computers, than after Jobs came back. Since then Apple has resisted the the integration when a single product will do a better job, and makeing that product the best on the market for it's intended purpose.
The iPod is a great example. Sure things have been added, but they have not take away from it's ability to cary out it's main function.
I think there is a very good chance that we will see the same in the video market. The main reason is that dedicated, highly integrated devices can be made for a lower cost than an ALL-IN-ONE, does everything approach. Whatever Apple comes out with for video will have a lot more competition than the iPod did when it came out.
Originally posted by jccbin
Jobs is still personally fixated on the idea that TV is dumb entertainment. Luckily, he has realized, or been told, that there are plenty of people who like dumb entertainment.
IIRC, he just said that when people watch T.V. they turn their brain off, and I think that's true. You also have to remember that Steve dumps on any type of product that Apple isn't currently shipping. Remember what he said about tiny flash players? "You use them once and then throw them in your drawer"
I think he just does this so competitors have a harder time guessing what they're working on.
Originally posted by Zandros
The thing which intrigues me is that less Macs than PC's are being recycled. Is it just a matter of Apple being bad at recycling, or are simply less Macs thrown away?
I'd say from experience that less Macs actually get thrown away. Look at the prices people pay for used Macs. Have you ever heard of anyone paying such prices for used PCs? I've also got a terrible feeling of guild for even considering throwing away an old Mac that works perfectly. Apple hardware *seems* to last quite a bit longer than its PC equivalent.
My 5 year old son was using my wife's old rev. A iMac until we moved late last year. At that point we donated it while trying to condense our posessions a bit. I still regret it and wish I'd kept it. It was 8 years old at that point. Now a co-worker of mine who'd heard I liked Macs gave me an old beige Powermac with a 300MHz G3 and a truckload of extras (monitor, tablet, keyboard, mouse and software. It functions as well as the day it was built. Very few PCs have this sort of longevity.
Originally posted by Zandros
The thing which intrigues me is that less Macs than PC's are being recycled. Is it just a matter of Apple being bad at recycling, or are simply less Macs thrown away?
Macs have a longer shelf life than Window machines. For a start they don't get bunged up with Spyware and viruses!!
There is a lot to be said for the build quality and design aesthetics of older Mac computers.
Originally posted by Zandros
The thing which intrigues me is that less Macs than PC's are being recycled. Is it just a matter of Apple being bad at recycling, or are simply less Macs thrown away?
I have every mac I have ever bought. -1 (I should have said almost every Mac)
Yep, Apple could have a really great total media center in the pipeline.
Hard disk (ala TiVo) recording and playback etc.
Total wireless access to your Mac around the home for video and music.
I agree that we must have a good array of input/output connectivity on future Macs. HDMI is a must.
Sorry, if they can't get adobe then tivo...
or...
not!
Originally posted by TednDi
apple should buy tivo..
Sorry, if they can't get adobe then tivo...
or...
not!
They should have bought tivo earlier. That court win just made tivo rich!
Originally posted by MiMac
Oh yes! What were we discussing? \
Yep, Apple could have a really great total media center in the pipeline.
Hard disk (ala TiVo) recording and playback etc.
Total wireless access to your Mac around the home for video and music.
I agree that we must have a good array of input/output connectivity on future Macs. HDMI is a must.
I'm sure I read Apple are in a consortium to build a universal interface with the likes of Intel? Maybe we have to wait until such design comes to fruitation first.
Remember Apple way of thinking is to make things simple.
I'ts a good possibility we may have to wait until 'n' wirless protocol comes our way to be ablel to handle large data streams.
I also think that Apple will want the iPod video to come out first, with content providers already signed up to provide material. This way Apple will not be seen as a company who encourages recording of copyright material.
Originally posted by jccbin
Jobs is still personally fixated on the idea that TV is dumb entertainment. Luckily, he has realized, or been told, that there are plenty of people who like dumb entertainment.
Unfortunately, steve's own biases drive Apple as well. He's a great innovation guy, but his personality makes him a double edged sword.
Now, that having been said, Apple will build something for home video entertainment, I suspect.
I think you have to look down the road 8-10 years as to what the market will be, then ask yourself what what will Apple build?
The entire video landscape will have changed by then ? as we trade 500 channels of cable or Satellite for 50,000 channels or 'Net video. PVR's? Who needs 'em when all video is "on demand" anyway? There's enough video on the Web now to make this worth having, but it is often too hard to find and categorize. Apple is pretty good at that.
The tricky issue isn't the technology ? it's here now. Like the Web, which has embarrassingly devalued writing (freelancers are making pennies on the dollars in many cases now as compared with five years ago) because somehow Web ads are worth less than print ads, there has to be a business model. I'm hoping, as ABC has done, it involves ads built into the streams that people have to watch, as opposed to a pay-per-view model, which Web users haven't embraced.
Can Apple create a business model that make 'Net video profitable? My guess is yes, based on iTunes.
With Apple, it's never really the technology, but rather the process that makes products successful.