The number of AppleTVs sold is greater than the number of active TiVos, so I guess it's all in how you define "failed".tv failed cause all it can do is play iTunes content.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple TV, Macbook Air, and now iPad
- Thread starter zorahk
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Amen... I think the same can be said of the iPad, which will make life even easier for the quick day trips where even a full blown laptop isn't necessary.
BTW- I own both of the two "flops" already released, and plan to own the 3rd as soon as the 3g version is available. They fit my life. Simple as that. Even if they don't fit yours, that doesn't make them flops...
ATV is a placeholder, that's been a quiet proving ground for Apple to learn, and update.
It will then be ready in a new version, once the iPad etc brings a lot more users to the Apple stable, wanting not only to download content onto the iPad, but also to be able to display this rented/bought content on their HDTV.
Cue ATV.
iPad is big. A developer will underestimate it at their significant cost? Why? The simplest one is that a lot of others will - if you don't, you're left out, and behind.
Apple showed that they were able to do an announcement without deals in place. They have been able to demo it, without having agreements on content , agreements with the publishers, agreements with the movie industry, with carriers.
Why? Because they have the upper hand. They can now be in a good negotiating position to try and the paperwork out to get things ready for a March-April launch for some of the deals, then bring things online as they are ready.
The MBA - a SuperDriveless, near portless computer - Innovative at the time. You add a swivel touch sensitive screen? Blow Lenovo out of the water.
It will then be ready in a new version, once the iPad etc brings a lot more users to the Apple stable, wanting not only to download content onto the iPad, but also to be able to display this rented/bought content on their HDTV.
Cue ATV.
iPad is big. A developer will underestimate it at their significant cost? Why? The simplest one is that a lot of others will - if you don't, you're left out, and behind.
Apple showed that they were able to do an announcement without deals in place. They have been able to demo it, without having agreements on content , agreements with the publishers, agreements with the movie industry, with carriers.
Why? Because they have the upper hand. They can now be in a good negotiating position to try and the paperwork out to get things ready for a March-April launch for some of the deals, then bring things online as they are ready.
The MBA - a SuperDriveless, near portless computer - Innovative at the time. You add a swivel touch sensitive screen? Blow Lenovo out of the water.
very well said,
apple has invested tons of time and engineering into this device, its potential NO ONE knows....not even steve.
the developers can take this device and make it very impressive, also alot of software changes in the os can change the ipad significantly to do more things.
i cant wait!!!
I missed this in your OP. No, to my knowledge, Apple does not do focus groups. Or public betas.
Here are some Steve Jobs quotes for you that sort of relate to your topic:
"We do no market research. We don't hire consultants. The only consultants I've ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway's retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products."
"So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, 'If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse." ' "
"It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That's what we get paid to do."
"I'm actually as proud of many of the things we haven't done as the things we have done. The clearest example was when we were pressured for years to do a PDA, and I realized one day that 90% of the people who use a PDA only take information out of it on the road. They don't put information into it. Pretty soon cellphones are going to do that, so the PDA market's going to get reduced to a fraction of its current size, and it won't really be sustainable. So we decided not to get into it. If we had gotten into it, we wouldn't have had the resources to do the iPod. We probably wouldn't have seen it coming."
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0803/gallery.jobsqna.fortune/index.html
The number of AppleTVs sold is greater than the number of active TiVos, so I guess it's all in how you define "failed".
Kinda stupid to compare AppleTV, a product thats being sold around the whole world, with TiVo, a product that only works in 6 countries?
the iphone is 3, 4 times the iPad's cost. Upfront device pricing is irrellevent compared to $60, 70, 100 a month contract.
The TiVo is also like 4 years older so it sort of balances out. I love my ATV and only ever paisdApple for one thing, a rental. The rest are DVD rips. Its worth the $100 more than a decent DVD player just to not have to handle discs.
Macbook Air to MacTablet - making new Apple TV solution
Here is a solution: in the next version of the Macbook Air take the keyboard off and and turn it into a real OS X tablet with touch screen. Keyboard and mouse can optionally attach via bluetooth. Give it the same ability to auto sense portrait or landscape mode and maybe a few more tweeks to the OS for multi-touch. Ya-hoo, lighter, simpler, and more flexible than the Air.
Now you will have a very portable, slim OS X system that you can dock to your HDTV! Screw Apple TV, just go direct to TV.
This is what the iPad was not! This would be useful. I would buy this!!!
Here is a solution: in the next version of the Macbook Air take the keyboard off and and turn it into a real OS X tablet with touch screen. Keyboard and mouse can optionally attach via bluetooth. Give it the same ability to auto sense portrait or landscape mode and maybe a few more tweeks to the OS for multi-touch. Ya-hoo, lighter, simpler, and more flexible than the Air.
Now you will have a very portable, slim OS X system that you can dock to your HDTV! Screw Apple TV, just go direct to TV.
This is what the iPad was not! This would be useful. I would buy this!!!
They should work out more.
Seriously, though, I can't think of a lot of situations where you would be standing and using the device for extended periods fo time, except for demoing it in stores/at press events.How much does your average hardcover book weigh, I wonder? That seems like the most appropriate comparison for something like this.
The number of AppleTVs sold is greater than the number of active TiVos, so I guess it's all in how you define "failed".
I assume he's using the same definition that explains why I am watching Lost on my 2 week old Apple TV right now.
They should work out more.
How much does your average hardcover book weigh, I wonder? That seems like the most appropriate comparison for something like this.
The difference between the iPad and a typical tablet though is that with its accelerometer features, people are expected to rotate, shake, and flip it around.
And? Seriously, it's 1.5lbs. My grandma puts 2lbs weights on each of her wrists when she exercises. When I read a book I am always flipping it around and rotating as I change pages and what not. Would 1lbs have been better? Sure, but think this is a really weak complaint. (See what I did there? WEAK complaint, hahah.)
Agreed. Some people just can't wait to start bashing and acting like they know everything.
indeed....i thought the forum we be more welcoming....not agressive because its not all they had planned it to be....
people forget somtimes....THEY do not design the device....apple does....take it or leave it.
Is your grandma exercising all day? I think the iPad will mostly be held, not set in your lap, if you're, let's say, surfing the web all day, 1.5 vs even 2 pounds in a big difference.
From the NY Times Best Sellers list:
1. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett (1.5 lbs)
2. KISSER, by Stuart Woods (1.2 lbs)
3. THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown (1.7 lbs)
4. THE BURNING LAND, by Bernard Cornwell (1.1 lbs)
5. THE FIRST RULE, by Robert Crais (1.2 lbs)
The Amazon Kindle DX weighs ~1.2 pounds
Again, the market the Air aimed at is different then the netbooks and other Apple laptops. Its quite possible you interact with those who the Air is meant for less.
Also I'd guess the Air's market is smaller.
It sucks for geeks but this really is the future of mass consumption computing. A closed system that does as advertised, no muss no fuss, even grandma can use it.
It's gonna be exciting to see what this thing is gonna do in a few years. Apple really is reinventing the computer with this device.
It's gonna be exciting to see what this thing is gonna do in a few years. Apple really is reinventing the computer with this device.
