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Why isn't AppleTV an actual TV?

Posted on October 29, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

It seems fairly apparent that AppleTV is nowhere near the runaway success the company’s enjoyed recently.  It’s been called a “hobby” by some, and that’s about as flattering as it gets.  It might actually be the best examples of why…

  • Convergence products suck – they are too hard to explain to consumers, too hard to get working properly (yes, you need a computer running iTunes to get content into it, but no, it doesn’t have to be on all the time.  gah!), and they can’t satisfy even their own users all the time due to incompatible networks, formats, codecs, etc.  Sneakernet is a better solution for getting digital media off a computer, as the standalone products violate my “4-boxes in the living room, and no more” rule (which I have not yet written, but will do soon).
  • Good UI isn’t enough – it doesn’t matter how nice it looks if there isn’t enough substance to support the product.  Yes, the AppleTV has a better UI than the NETGEAR Digital Entertainer HD and probably any other streaming media device in the past, but it’s still a convergence product (see above).
  • Walled gardens are clearly annoying customers – let’s face it, there are just too many content options available today to try to trap consumers into a limited set.  The only reason the iPod was more successful at this game is that it’s main value proposition when it came out was about the ease of ripping and synchronizing, not the iTunes store.

So now let’s take a step back.  Apple makes a beautiful (yet pricey) 30″ LCD monitor – it’s more expensive than the 46″ Samsung LCD I’m considering.  One of the reasons it’s so expensive is the resolution is so high.  They could easily drop it down to 1080p, up the sizes to 36, 42, and 46 inches, and pow, it’s a TV.  Next, they could throw the guts of an AppleTV inside, and you’ve got a great-looking display with built-in media streaming capabilities, and they could probably hit a pretty affordable price point.  My hunch is it would sell better as a $1999 TV set than the $299 box does today.

While they are at it, I’d love to see them apply some Apple-goodness to the EPG, and throw a DVR into it. There’ve been rumors that they’d buy TiVo for years, I hope they don’t.  They can out-TiVo TiVo in my opinion.  Better yet, they should throw in the ability to synch it back to an iPod, or to your .Mac account online (for an additional fee).

That’s a winning convergence product in my eyes.

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Posted in Convergence, Video/Music/Media | 8 Comments
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8 thoughts on “Why isn't AppleTV an actual TV?”

  1. Louis Gray says:
    October 29, 2007 at 6:51 pm

    You’re right. Of course you’re right. Apple is missing the boat with Apple TV, and getting nowhere. Should would be nice if they’d recognize it and make some effort.

    My comments in parallel with yours:

    Eight Reasons the Apple TV is Failing, and How It Can be Saved
    http://www.louisgray.com/live/2007/10/eight-reasons-appletv-is-failing-and.html

    Reply
  2. Tedious says:
    October 30, 2007 at 8:38 am

    Personally, I think AppleTV is perfect and only ahead of it’s time. Like the iPod, it can get a bump every year and stay perfect. It’s designed with a post-broadcast lifestyle in mind, when most people only watch pre-recorded material most of the time.

    It’s a “TV Killer” in much the way the iPod was a “Radio Killer”. The lack of a tuner wasn’t an oversight in either case.

    It’s supposed to change the way you get and consume content. Or rather, it gives you a legal way to get content and a way to consume it (and all your torrented stuff) on your big screen. The iPod put all the legally ripped and illegally Napstered music off your computer and put in in your pocket. (That the iTunes Store is profitable is beside the fact that it’s sole purpose is to justify the existence of a piece of hardware that can play illegally traded files.)

    If you think that no one is trading AppleTV compatible files, just search for x.264 (the free version of h.264) on your favorite tracker. For everything else, there’s iSquint.

    Software Piracy sells hardware. I think 2009 will be earliest that people will discover AppleTV. Until then, it’s a pirate’s paradise just like the early days of the iPod, and a nice trickle of cash for Apple.

    Reply
  3. Luck Kanthatham says:
    October 31, 2007 at 7:53 am

    I think you have a point. However, I don’t think I would spend that much money just to get that kind of functionality. HP does have a line of LCD TV’s that can do what you described. Personally, I don’t think I want to be tied to a TV for a set of functionality that can be transferred to another TV.

    By the way, I run a site called http://appletvsource.com. Given your interesting take on the Apple TV, you are welcome to guess write on my site anytime.

    Reply
  4. Benjamin Higginbotham says:
    October 31, 2007 at 9:14 am

    I don’t think an all in one converged device will work. Come on, you must see the irony of slamming a convergence product and the promoting converging the TV with the AppleTV. It’s like double convergence, so maybe that’s like a double negative?

    I think the biggest failure of the AppleTV has been and continues to be content. This device is hooked directly to the television which probably has cable or satellite hooked in as well for many households. What content does the AppleTV supply that is more compelling than what I have on my HD cable/satellite or by playing an HD-DVD (or BluRay, or whatever). The AppleTV doesn’t have a huge discount on price over traditional DVDs and can’t be compared to HD-DVD even though it pretty much only works on HD sets (it sorta works in the SD realm, but barely). The HD Podcast content market is very, very small right now and most of it is crap (to be blunt). So I’m probably not going to buy a movie for my AppleTV, my TV episodes are probably recorded in HD for free on my DVR and the Podcast/Videocast content is weak at best.

    The technology is in place, the content isn’t. Plugging an AppleTV directly into a monitor would be cool, but wouldn’t solve the underlying problem. It would just be convergence squared.

    Reply
  5. Patrick Sansoucy says:
    November 2, 2007 at 10:10 am

    I’ve been a media streamer early adopter (does the Roku Photobridge ring a bell) and I don’t think making it part of a TV will help. Like someone said here, it’s already out there and not having a lot of success. It’s basically a Ipod video for your TV, and everyone knows that the Ipod video wasn’t a consumer favorite.

    I would buy one if it had:
    More codec supports (I don’t pirate, but my home movies are AVI’s and MPEG. I have ripped some of my DVD’s to XVID/DIVX. )
    Remove the iTunes only tie, I want to stream off a NAS
    More than 720p or 1080i support please, people are getting huge 1080p TV’s today
    DVR would be quite nice
    A real API for plugins

    I know some of this can be achieved via hacks, but still, it should support this out of the box.

    Reply
  6. Dave Zatz says:
    November 4, 2007 at 11:29 am

    There’s more money to be made selling items separately. I expect Apple to enhance iTV functionality going forward, and I expect Apple to start selling flat panel TVs. Macworld should have some interesting announcements. What I see as the main flaw of Apple TV is that iTunes only allows movie *purchases* – I think they’d move more units if they offered movie rentals. And let people order from Appel TV itself.

    Reply
  7. manpan says:
    November 4, 2007 at 7:50 pm

    The only reason I have not yet bought Apple TV is because I do not yet have a High Definition Television in my home and my existing TV is incompatible with Apple TV as it uses VGA input/output etc (the red, white, and yellow input sockets) is neither composite, component, nor HDMI.

    I do plan to get one as soon as I have an HDTV. In the meantime I’ll just use my Mac Mini running OS X Tiger with Front Row and play my Nintendo Wii.

    Reply
  8. Pingback: Working Backwards Reveals Apple’s Macworld Plans - Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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