Jobs Unveils Apple TV

[dkennedy]

Jobs Unveils Apple TV

January 9, 2007

By Steve Donohue, Multichannel News

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off of the company’s new Apple TV set-top Tuesday at the Macworld confab in San Francisco.

The device -- which connects to a TV like a DVD player -- allows users to wirelessly transfer music and video content stored on their PCs to the Apple TV box.

Priced at $299, Apple TV is set to go on sale in February through the Apple Store and through Apple retail outlets.

The device contains a 40-gigabyte hard drive that can store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos, or a combination of each, Apple said. Apple TV can receive content wirelessly from up to five computers in a home, relying on 802.11 wireless networking.

Also Tuesday, Apple officially changed the name of its corporation from Apple Computer to Apple Inc.

[dkennedy]

Apple TV: Another Steve Jobs Folly

New PC to TV device will deliver high-def in 720p.

January 9, 2007

By Phillip Swann, tvpredictions.com

In 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs gushed that the 2.5-inch screen video iPod would revolutionize the TV industry.

Today, according to Nielsen Media Research, only two percent of all media used on the video device are actually videos. Consumers have decided that the device's small screen isn't suitable to watch TV, whether it's primetime episodes or user videos.

However, Jobs has not satisfied his thirst to conquer the television world. The tech guru today unveiled Apple's new iTV,

Jobs said the device will be renamed Apple TV. However, it will be another 'Steve Jobs Folly' regardless of the name.

At MacWorld today, Jobs said the set-top, which will retail for $299 and ship next month, will allow users to transmit PC-based media to the TV. The device will support high-def video up to 720p resolution.

It will also include a wireless connection and a 40-gigabyte hard drive.

"It's a really cool box," Jobs said at the unveiling. "It works with video, music and photos. It was designed for a widescreen TV."

However, although it may be "cool" -- to use Jobs' 'forever young' parlance -- the Apple TV box is not designed for the American consumer.

Americans are tired of buying set-tops for TV-based purposes. They already have a DVD player; a cable and/or satellite set-top; possibly a standalone TiVo DVR and/or DVD recorder; a video game console; and in some cases, a Audio/Video receiver connected to their TVs.

And now Jobs is telling them to get another box so they can stream videos, music and photos from their PCs?

Fat chance -- even if the set-top will send the signals wirelessly; Americans have set-top fatigue.

Internet TV
Apple TV is just another version of a Media Center PC, which has still not captured a sizable audience.

Some analysts say viewers will want to watch Net video -- particularly user videos -- on their televisions. Internet TV has a promising future, but it won't succeed until it's available on set-tops that are already in the home, such as a cable or satellite box. It's highly unlikely that people will buy a special set-top to watch a two-minute video of someone hitting himself on the head on their HDTVs.

Americans will need a strong reason to buy yet another TV set-top. This is one of the obstacles facing the high-def DVD industry. HD-DVD and Blu-ray supporters have yet to convince people that the high-def recorder will make their lives more convenient and entertaining. (In fact, with the format war and high player prices, the high-def DVD player now is anything but convenient, although it does add entertainment.)

In recent years, several companies such as Disney have tried to break the set-top logjam with products such as MovieBeam, the Video on Demand service. But they have failed for the reasons stated above.

Despite the media's adoration of Mr. Jobs, Apple TV will fail as well.