Comments on: Is The Apple TV Dead?

By: blake

blake — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:50:25 +0000

Great post! It’s funny we were having this exact conversion over at ModMyi and the consensus was exactly what you’ve said here: “A software update with web browsing and games…”. You can read the full post here: http://modmyi.com/forums/appletv/429301-appletv-dead.html

After todays announcement / enhancement, I still feel that it should do more directly out of the box (that is, without having to mod / hack it, etc). I guess we’ll see how it plays into the DVR / Instant Streaming fight over the next few years..: )

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Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:47:42 +0000

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By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:16:36 +0000

Exactly - that's competing by stifling innovation.

The music industry took advantage of their monopoly when people couldn't do anything about it - remember when CDs cost no less than $15 each, and contained 99% crap, except for the single?

They're paying for it now, and nobody can really feel sorry for them. The cable companies are doing the same now, and I won't shed a tear for them when they're made redundant.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:12:29 +0000

Indeed. I barely watch anything on TV myself, so if I were paying for cable, it would definitely be one of the things I'd cut.

I'm sure there are many others who only watch a couple of shows, and only turn on the TV when there's something to watch.

By: webomatica

webomatica — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:31:22 +0000

By “internet” I guess you mean piracy and a good old Bit Torrent. Do
you think the cable companies are basically battling against piracy?
In that, do you see people cancelling cable because, they can just get
all their shows through torrents?

By: webomatica

webomatica — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:26:08 +0000

Yeah, I overlooked that one. If the cable companies start getting
aggressive with caps I'll be pissed. But that is a choice - I would
rather see the cable companies start incorporating media extender
features into their boxes (enabling consumers) instead. If they go
with caps for the purpose of clamping down these new delivery
technologies, then I consider that an opening salvo in a war I hope
they ultimately lose.

By: webomatica

webomatica — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:18:07 +0000

Yeah, that's fair, the cable companies have all the intertia and the
user base. If the cable industry is saavy enough to where they start
incorporating Apple TV like features into their cable boxes that get
installed anyhow, or taking the Marc Cuban approach, then it's game
over for all these tech companies. But they could also sit on their
hands like the music industry, and resist change, assuming this VOD
thing is just a fad. They don't even get "unbundling" channels (like,
what if I only want Sci Fi channel and nothing else?).

I'll say this change in behavior could take a decade or more, and it
may be a slow motion train wreck just like the music and newspaper
industries - we'll see.

By: DaveD

DaveD — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:07:00 +0000

How exactly can cable “lose” this battle when they hold the biggest trump card of all — bandwidth control? They already have begun instituting download caps.

No discussion of video distribution over the internet is complete without acknowledging this reality.

By: papa

papa — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:31:20 +0000

Internet might win long term, but my money is on cable/satellite in the near/mid-term. The latter just has such strong penetration coupled with the fact that people are USED to and comfortable with enjoying TV and movie entertainment in this way. The barrier to entry is low, the hardware is already in the living rooms and the format wars are moot.

Internet is great too (I'm a big fan of Hulu and Apple's one-off episode solution is neat), but watching TV on a computer is not the norm (I'm talking about mainstream America) and bandwidth remains problematic for high-def content. Convergence of internet and living room will bridge this and may result in some cable/internet hybrid. But is it there yet for most of American? No. I will grant that the internet option may very will win among the youth segment today (and because of this, it's a good long-term bet).

Solutions that require "extra" hardware (console delivery systems, media devices) are non-starters from a mass market standpoint. Same goes for solutions that require "extra" software (think joost vs. flash based solutions).

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:39:33 +0000

I still think the internet’s going to win this one. While all eyes are on products like Blu-ray, HD-DVD, AppleTV, etc., the internet beats them all. The price is free, the format is whatever you want it to be, and availability is now.

Moral issues aside, that’s simply superior to your options above. Steve Jobs competed with piracy by offering an incentive: fast, cheap, and guaranteed quality. Why is everyone so focused on taking Apple down, rather than learning from their successes and doing it themselves?

By: Ludo

Ludo — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:43:06 +0000

Sdk!
Enable USB port for external disk
Allow USB and/or Bluetooth keyboard
Did I mention SDK?

By: AppleTV: Not Mainstream, But Then Again Neither Are DVRs (Yet)

AppleTV: Not Mainstream, But Then Again Neither Are DVRs (Yet) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:03:13 +0000

[…] to that world than when I first started thinking about it over a year ago. But this blog post: Is The Apple TV Dead? got me thinking about it […]