"I've finally cracked it" - Steve's last laugh at the industry one year on

[Devil's Refugee]

Steve's last laugh

Is there really an innovative product in the Apple stable that will blow everyone out the water ? Is there a user experience that nobody else can really match when it’s eventually launched ?

Or was Steve slyly prodding the industry in a direction he wanted them to take only to reinvent it all over again ?

 

[needfx]

he just wanted to mud the waters in my opinion

 

[Solomani]

he just wanted to mud the waters in my opinion

Steve purposely misled the rest of the Tech Industry Copycats. SJ on purpose wanted THEM to think Apple was focusing on a new TV paradigm, so that the copycats would throw billions in that direction hoping to "release" something before Apple does. Little did they know that Steve's final years at Apple really didn't care much about TV. He was working on the iGravCar.

 

[needfx]

Steve purposely misled the rest of the Tech Industry Copycats. SJ on purpose wanted THEM to think Apple was focusing on a new TV paradigm, so that the copycats would throw billions in that direction hoping to "release" something before Apple does. Little did they know that Steve's final years at Apple really didn't care much about TV. He was working on the iGravCar.

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57% ready

 

[TallManNY]

The interface really isn't the issue. It is licensing the content and the media companies don't want to license apple the content. Siri should easily be able to handle changing channels by now, so the interface should just be talking to your phone while it connects to Apple TV. There already is a nice remote app doing the connection part. The rest of the programming should be fairly easy compared to what Siri already handles.

But ether Big Media or Apple have to give to get them to play together nicely.

 

[Solomani]

But ether Big Media or Apple have to give to get them to play together nicely.

TV Media will not budge. They already saw how Apple completely turned the music industry upside down after the introduction of iTunes and iPod.

But you are right. This has little to do with Apple's creation of the "right" TV software or paradigm. They probably have the technology ready to go even before SJ died. The stumbling block is content. And Big Media simply will not budge.

Well... let me take that back... sorta. Big Media will not VOLUNTARILY budge. But Apple is so huge these days, they could literally buy out or heavily invest (majority shareholder) in one of the small-to-medium sized TV-media networks (probably not a giant like Time Warner tho). If Apple does that, then they easily have one foot inside the door.

But from an investor viewpoint, doing this would be a huge gamble for Apple. A huge and risky gamble. It's the "if they won't cooperate with you, then buy them out" strategy of corporate capitalism. Microsoft is a good example of a company executing this strategy effectively in the past.

 

[jaw04005]

All it would take is for Apple to strike a deal with one major U.S. television provider like Comcast or DirecTV.

If the iTV is truly innovative and a game changer, there would be mass outcry from consumers to support the device just like what happened with the iPhone.

 

[marc11]

All it would take is for Apple to strike a deal with one major U.S. television provider like Comcast or DirecTV.

If the iTV is truly innovative and a game changer, there would be mass outcry from consumers to support the device just like what happened with the iPhone.

What type of deal would it take to get me to move from Direct TV to something Apple offered? It would have to offer me more content, easier to access and cost less. It is not like Direct TV is regional and Apple can extend the reach, they are national; so I am not sure that is it.

I do think it is about a la carte selection and for that Apple needs to strike a deal with content providers and not content servers. Strike a deal with ABC. NBC, FOX, CBS, TNT, TBS, etc and then offer a la carte show selection, charging per show, per hour, per day, whatever, no dish, no cable and watch it on any device, anytime, anywhere.

Royalities going right to the content providers, more than they get from cable or sat companies now is one of the only ways I can think Apple can differentiate from tradational TV services. Otherwise, for me, I will just keep my 10 channels of good content and ignore the other 80 channels of crap on Direct TV. I really just want to pay for what I want, the shows I want, when I want.

This is where Hulu and Netflix are so close...

 

[lunaoso]

TV Media will not budge. They already saw how Apple completely turned the music industry upside down after the introduction of iTunes and iPod.

But you are right. This has little to do with Apple's creation of the "right" TV software or paradigm. They probably have the technology ready to go even before SJ died. The stumbling block is content. And Big Media simply will not budge.

Well... let me take that back... sorta. Big Media will not VOLUNTARILY budge. But Apple is so huge these days, they could literally buy out or heavily invest (majority shareholder) in one of the small-to-medium sized TV-media networks (probably not a giant like Time Warner tho). If Apple does that, then they easily have one foot inside the door.

But from an investor viewpoint, doing this would be a huge gamble for Apple. A huge and risky gamble. It's the "if they won't cooperate with you, then buy them out" strategy of corporate capitalism. Microsoft is a good example of a company executing this strategy effectively in the past.

The difference with the music industry is that when Apple made deals with them, the companies were desperate. Everyone was pirating music left and right and the companies weren't making money. So until we get to a point where the TV companies are desperate, I don't see an "iTV" very likely.

 

[TallManNY]

What type of deal would it take to get me to move from Direct TV to something Apple offered? It would have to offer me more content, easier to access and cost less. It is not like Direct TV is regional and Apple can extend the reach, they are national; so I am not sure that is it.

You want more, better and cheaper?!? Why would it take all three? You wouldn't move it was the same content, same ease of access, but cost less? Sure you would move. How about more content, same access, same cost? You are moving again I would think. Okay, now how about more content, easier access, but costs more? That is the game that Apple wants to play. Would you pay $2 more per month to have voice activated TV control? What about $10 more per month to have access to each station's entire media library, including streaming sports games to all your devices?

Hopefully we will get better stuff. And if we get better stuff, well then I'm willing to pay more. That works for me.

 

[marc11]

You want more, better and cheaper?!? Why would it take all three? You wouldn't move it was the same content, same ease of access, but cost less? Sure you would move. How about more content, same access, same cost? You are moving again I would think. Okay, now how about more content, easier access, but costs more? That is the game that Apple wants to play. Would you pay $2 more per month to have voice activated TV control? What about $10 more per month to have access to each station's entire media library, including streaming sports games to all your devices?

Hopefully we will get better stuff. And if we get better stuff, well then I'm willing to pay more. That works for me.

Well okay yes I would pay for better, but more is not always better. Easier, I am not sure what is easier other than having my iTunes content available with my Direct TV content. I hate having to switch devices to watch different things, so yes, I would pay a little more to have it all on one box.

Voice control I do not care for. We have it with our Xbox Kinect and it works great, watching Hulu you can tell it to pause, find a show, etc and works great, but it gets old fast and a remote is far easier/faster; so I would not pay more for that and I certainly would not want to pay monthly for it.

So yeah, let me consolidate my Apple TV and Direct TV boxes into one, give me internet streaming and live shows, let me record what I want to the cloud to watch anywhere at anytime and give me a la carte selection and I would pay more for that than I do now. But the cavet HAS TO be that I am allowed to add any internet based app or content I want. No walled garden, no restricting what I can and cannot access, ie Airplay for Hulu type crap. Otherwise it is a fail, so long as there is content out there that I can access on other devices or via a HT PC Server that I cannot access on this new device/service then it fails...maybe just a little, but it still fails.

This is where ideas like Plex really hit it out of the park, if only they could access DRM content you paid for. I have Plex on my Smart TV, it is SOOOOOOO close...so something like that, a combined full content serving device, that I can control, yeah I would pay for that.

 

[scootaru]

Anybody find it odd the Mac Mini didn't get a refresh? I think it's because they are going to replace the Mac Mini with their cable tv competitor. DVR, Digital Tv tuner, Siri, and some other killer feature. The ability to seamlessly access the DVR from any Apple TV in the house would be a nice touch. Eh, maybe just wishful thinking.

 

[lunaoso]

Anybody find it odd the Mac Mini didn't get a refresh? I think it's because they are going to replace the Mac Mini with their cable tv competitor. DVR, Digital Tv tuner, Siri, and some other killer feature. The ability to seamlessly access the DVR from any Apple TV in the house would be a nice touch. Eh, maybe just wishful thinking.

In my opinion, I don't think the DVR type box/iTV is the reason for no Mac mini update. Apple markets the mini as a "lower-end"/more affordable mac, not as a media box(even though it does work great as one.