OMG! Aaaah! Apple TV! Yes! No ... Probably! Sometime!
Like a stuck calendar, this will be right eventually
After the iPad Mini rumours turned out to be true, fanboys are eagerly expecting the long rumoured Apple TVs to be announced.
After all, we've only been expecting a decent one since 2007 when the current box launched.
Apple has been kicking around the idea of revolutionising TV since well before Steve Jobs left the company. Apple top brass have been meeting TV execs for years. A CBS exec recalled Jobs telling him he was a bozo back in 2000s during some heated negotiations.
And so it may come as no surprise that Apple is allegedly talking to other companies with regards to a potential TV device. The latest rumour is that Apple have been speaking to a partner on the technical side - a cable operator - who's trying to calculate the extra data traffic they'd have to carry if the Apple TV did happen.
A report from James Kisner, an analyst at Jeffries & Co says that:
At least one major North American multiple system operator is working to estimate how much additional capacity may be needed for a new Apple device on their broadband data network.
No suggestion as to whether Apple actually asked them to do that or not. But some have taken this to suggest that Apple TV is "imminent", others declare strongly that it is "not imminent."
However the technical bit is not likely to be Apple's big problem here. They should be able to work that out. It's the content that's going to be hard. A great TV service will need to provide all the content that people want to watch.
Steve Jobs talked round all the key players in the music industry into selling their music on iTunes. But neither he, nor Apple so far it seems can perform the same feat with the big players in the TV industry. ®
COMMENTS
Re: XBMC not as scalable
I guess you've never heard of DNLA then. Works on my telly, phone, tablet, notebook, etc.
Overpriced Apple LCD TV for the rich?
Apple can get away with overcharging for computers and tablets, but in this economy, who is going to overpay for an LCD TV with an Apple Logo on it other than celebs and other idle rich? Clearly, they are in the minority. Such an overpriced TV set just isn't going to happen because Cable and Satellite networks just don't need Apple in order to get their content to customers. It serves no purpose given that there are already smart TV's in the marketplace and they aren't moving int he same quantities as regular LCD TVs. Perhaps in the future, it could happen, but the cable and satellite networks are in no rush to do so. They've all seen Apple's control freakery at work and have no intention of allowing it in their industry.
I can't wait for the TRUE Apple TV
Apple TV iTV call it whatever you will I can't wait for the final vision of Steve Jobs to see the light of day. I imagine it will have the following features
• 4X3 display screen
• 32 inch screen (no bigger because your eye goes from here to here as does this wonderful 32 inch screen)
• available in black or white
• basic model starting with 16 gig to store all those iTunes HD movies on
Actually i might wait for revision 2 where they backtrack to 16X9 and 37 inch screen
Re: XBMC not as scalable
> I backed up some of my DVD collection to an iTunes, spent $99 on an Apple TV box, turned it on and *it just worked* and I knew that any serious attempt to deploy XBMC in a similar fashion would not be as trivial in my time
Bullsh*t.
iTunes does squat in terms of media management. It doesn't just do BAD media management. It does NO media management.
It does not "just work".
The experience of what you are describing is nowhere near as "polished" as XBMC.
You might have better luck making up bogus nonsense about a $800 or $2400 product. AppleTV's are just too cheap. Plenty of the rest of us can run them for lulz and see how they really perform.
Re: Overpriced Apple LCD TV for the rich?
Many, many assumptions there, and there is already a huge price range for existing sets (from your no-name boxes up to top end big screens that cost upwards of £20k. If and until Apple anounce a product we have no idea what it will cost, what it will do or whether it will sell. Ranting about there being no market for it is utterly pointless.
