IKEA beat Apple to the TV-market

[smoledman]

The entire business model is already changing and I wonder if Apple is just going to hang out on the sidelines and see how things start shaking about before they remove TV from hobby status. Lethal

If Apple is willing to pay billions to the content providers(Viacom, Comcast, etc..) then the world is their oyster.

 

[Selmir]

In 0:27 my swedish fellow citizen said:

"How can we FIX this?"

I thought, because of her typical swengelska (aka. "swenglish"), that she actually said "How can we PISS this?".

"Uppleva", as You probably figured out, means "Experience" in english. Really silly but a little bit funny video. Personally I really am not a Ikea-fan, because I allready live in Ikea-land And if You haven't noticed, every Ikea-store is builled as a maze. Once you get in you will be get out, after three hours or so. With kids +5 (!) hours. AND you will buy everything unnecesary item for your bathroom, kitchen, livingroom etc., especially if your lady points every now and then at every "new" item who's available for livingroom, kitchen and of course bedroom (!). WHICH of course you also reconsider as "necessary" for time being. Or simply don't want to argue with your lady ;P

 

[Liquorpuki]

I don't see Apple's competitors really being the cable providers. Sure, power needs to be wrestled away from cable providers for Apple to try and get the exclusive content deals I think it needs but, IMO, Apple's real competitors are companies like Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, HBO, Starz, MS, Sony, Nintendo and any company that makes internet-ready TVs and Blu-ray players.

There are a ton of set top boxes out there and they all do the same thing. All of them are just internet ready boxes with the same contracts with the same handful of companies (Netflix, Hulu, etc). Yet cable providers are still the primary service people purchase when they want to watch television, not set top boxes. The question is why, and what can Apple do to leverage themselves to disrupt them?

Yeah, but the companies that do have valuable IP (either 1st party or 3rd party) are going to be in the drivers seat and the reason quality 1st party IP can be more valuable than quality 3rd parity IP is because the 1st party IP can't be taken away from you. Building a catalog of course takes time which is why Netflix, Hulu, and YT (even Amazon is rumored to be developing its own original content) will be playing catch up to HBO in that regard. Just like HBO is playing catch to being a content distributor in the vein of Netflix. If HBO GO, for example, eventually lets HBO interface directly with customers (no cable service needed) why would HBO want to strike an exclusivity deal with Apple, for example, when that would just limit HBO's potential audience?

Whenever I think of the role of IP in media distribution, I look at the video game industry. You have companies like Nintendo who survive solely because of first party IP. Then you have companies like Facebook and Apple who are distributors but are successful because they have platforms that can't be readily duplicated. If a company has a deep enough distribution system, I think they'll do fine as only a service.

Far as your HBO example, I don't think there'll be any exclusivity initially. Regarding the audience though, if Apple could leverage their ecosystem to drop the price of HBO and give consumers a better deal than the $80-100 bundles cable providers make you buy to watch HBO, they'll expand HBO's audience. People who won't pay $80 for HBO but are willing to pay $40 = new customers and HBO wins.

If Apple is willing to pay billions to the content providers(Viacom, Comcast, etc..) then the world is their oyster.

Comcast isn't a content provider. They're a content distributor. Content providers and distributors need each other to survive and its the incumbent distributors who are in danger of being replaced.

 

[LethalWolfe]

There are a ton of set top boxes out there and they all do the same thing. All of them are just internet ready boxes with the same contracts with the same handful of companies (Netflix, Hulu, etc). Yet cable providers are still the primary service people purchase when they want to watch television, not set top boxes. The question is why, and what can Apple do to leverage themselves to disrupt them?

Cable providers still rule in part because they have the contracts and they have the entrenched user base. Both of those things are changing and not because of Apple. MS is making deals with Verizon and Comast to get content they distribute to pass through the 360. Sony has a deal w/DirecTV to get the NFL Sunday Ticket on your PS3. The UFC is making it's pay-per-view fights available for purchase via Roku and Xbox Live. The NHL's GameCenter service is available on TV and PS3 not to mention all the streaming services that have already been brought up 100 times.

Whenever I think of the role of IP in media distribution, I look at the video game industry. You have companies like Nintendo who survive solely because of first party IP. Then you have companies like Facebook and Apple who are distributors but are successful because they have platforms that can't be readily duplicated. If a company has a deep enough distribution system, I think they'll do fine as only a service.

Apple is a hardware company and their software and services exist to get people to buy Macs, iPhones and iPads. What is it that Apple can do hardware wise to make it different than what you can get anywhere else (either via an external box, an internet-ready TV or a video game console)? Now, they are in a unique position though of being a hardware company that can provide top notch software and services (which is why they can excel in a walled garden world where other companies, which have to work together on some level, usually look clumsy by comparison). Maybe the difference maker isn't going to be the programing you can get through TV at all but in how it integrates into the Apple ecosystem in a profound way that we haven't thought about.

Only time will tell.

Lethal

 

[smoledman]

Maybe the difference maker isn't going to be the programing you can get through TV at all but in how it integrates into the Apple ecosystem in a profound way that we haven't thought about.

Only time will tell.

Lethal

Isn't it already super-integrated? I mean you can drive your Apple TV using an iOS device as remote control or stream video from an iOS device to TV using AirPlay. I guess the next thing coming will be AirDrop working between iOS devices.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Isn't it already super-integrated? I mean you can drive your Apple TV using an iOS device as remote control or stream video from an iOS device to TV using AirPlay. I guess the next thing coming will be AirDrop working between iOS devices.

It is, but unless they drop billions on getting exclusive content (which neither one of us thinks they'll do) how else are they going to make it a compelling device instead of just a hobby?

I figure Apple has a couple more years before they need to release another OMG-must-have-now device so maybe in that time they'll figure out how to make TV absolutely mind blowing.


Lethal

 

[smoledman]

It is, but unless they drop billions on getting exclusive content (which neither one of us thinks they'll do) how else are they going to make it a compelling device instead of just a hobby?

I figure Apple has a couple more years before they need to release another OMG-must-have-now device so maybe in that time they'll figure out how to make TV absolutely mind blowing.


Lethal

In that period, Microsoft will come out with XBox-lite(set top box) that does all the media-functions of the XBox for $99 to be competitive with Roku & Apple TV box. Also I expect Microsoft to make DLNA nice and easy within Windows 8 and expect OEMs like HP/Dell/Logitech to make an Airport Express-equivalent along with other DLNA devices. AirPlay has been a real trump card for the Apple platform going on a few years now and it's time the rest of the world got a taste of it.

 

[LethalWolfe]

In that period, Microsoft will come out with XBox-lite(set top box) that does all the media-functions of the XBox for $99 to be competitive with Roku & Apple TV box. Also I expect Microsoft to make DLNA nice and easy within Windows 8 and expect OEMs like HP/Dell/Logitech to make an Airport Express-equivalent along with other DLNA devices. AirPlay has been a real trump card for the Apple platform going on a few years now and it's time the rest of the world got a taste of it.

I could totally see MS making satellite Xboxes that just have the TV functions, but I think they would be wirelessly tethered to a full sized Xbox (kinda like how the Wii U controller is 'powered' by the Wii U console). I would be surprised if the 'TV only' Xboxes were sold as stand alone devices.


Lethal

 

[Liquorpuki]

Maybe the difference maker isn't going to be the programing you can get through TV at all but in how it integrates into the Apple ecosystem in a profound way that we haven't thought about.

This is exactly what I'm thinking is gonna happen. Unless Apple screws up

I could totally see MS making satellite Xboxes that just have the TV functions, but I think they would be wirelessly tethered to a full sized Xbox (kinda like how the Wii U controller is 'powered' by the Wii U console). I would be surprised if the 'TV only' Xboxes were sold as stand alone devices.

Do you think cable and satellite can coexist with the internet as a distribution channel? Or will internet tv eventually kill cable and satellite tv?

 

[LethalWolfe]

Do you think cable and satellite can coexist with the internet as a distribution channel? Or will internet tv eventually kill cable and satellite tv?

I think in the next 10yrs all content will be available over IP but cable, satellite and OTA (over the air) will still exist because not everyone will have access to broadband that is fast enough and affordable. Once fast, affordable broadband starts becoming is as available as cable & satellite is then I think those two delivery mediums will cease to exist.

With that being said though I still think there will be 'gate keepers'. It might be Netflix instead of Comcast but there will still be gate keepers because the cost of producing premiere content can be so expensive that you need deep pockets to be able to do it.


Lethal