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Munster: An Apple TV Set by 2011
- Thread starter NJMetsHero
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Hmm.. Right now I subscribe to Verizon FIOS for TV, phone, and internet. The most expensive component is TV. Suppose Apple upgraded the Apple TV (never mind a real TV) box and there was enough to dump FIOS TV. Do you think Verizon would like that? Odds are they would start implementing usage caps to prevent us from getting out TV from Apple TV rather than Verizon. Same thing for other cable/internet providers.
Go into a random store and check out the better Sony, Samsung, Toshiba and Panasonic models. Do you gotoo when you see these, or do you rather admire the sheer greatness of what you see?
Apple's prices would blow the doors off the current prices and wouldn't look back.
$30-45 a month for TV shows?
bahahahaaaaaaaaaa who the hell would pay for that?
Apple TV is a fail
bahahahaaaaaaaaaa who the hell would pay for that?
Apple TV is a fail
I hope you're being sarcastic. In case you are not, let me remind you that a vast majority of US households currently pay $50-$100 per month for advertising-laden TV already. A good portion pay in the range of $100-200 per month. And, those costs go up every single year.
So, yeah. Who the hell would pay half or a third as much as they currently pay, for the up-front cost of buying Apple-manufactured hardware?
Where do you live that people are paying those prices for TV because you're getting ripped off.
Most companies offer phone, TV and internet bundles for around $100 a month.
http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=7685
http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/learn/bundles/default.html
etc...
The internet is slowly taking over (or at least pushing aside) services like cellphone/telephone, cable, etc.
With services like Google Voice and Skype available to make cheap calls with, and this potential Apple TV than can replace cable, companies like Verizon need to come up with a defensive strategy to fight them off.
This is true. Our old Macs never had problems, yet all of the recent ones have been a mess. Their hardware quality has gone downhill. It's ridiculous that you NEED AppleCare with a new Mac because you know you will have to use it. Adding $250-$350 to an already-expensive computer is a tough hit to take.
Won't happen.
Sure the guy's gotta make predictions to excite clients so they give him money.
But makes no sense. What can they do by making the TV that they can't do by just making the box?
Answer: Nothing.
So won't happen.
Their real TV is the iMac. I wouldn't doubt if they make a larger iMac, but they aren't going to make a TV. The lcd screens are imacs and Apple's monitors and probably their tablets.
Sure the guy's gotta make predictions to excite clients so they give him money.
But makes no sense. What can they do by making the TV that they can't do by just making the box?
Answer: Nothing.
So won't happen.
Their real TV is the iMac. I wouldn't doubt if they make a larger iMac, but they aren't going to make a TV. The lcd screens are imacs and Apple's monitors and probably their tablets.
Apple will NEVER ship anything with a DVR. It is not their model. Why would they include a DVR when they make their money on iTunes downloads??? A TV with built-in support for iTunes downloads? Absolutely. DVR? Not gonna happen in this life time. It's just not.
Microsoft has just announced that they will be releasing a similar TV but with more features. It will look like a coffee table with a glass surface. When you are finished watching it for the night all you need to do is swipe your hand down toward the lower left corner and a menu will appear. Just tap the "Start" to quit.
Who the hell pays that kind of money for cable? I pay $36 for cable + internet but I am cutting the cable since it now comes with my rent.
Besides almost anything you want to see is on the internet so why pay $300+ a year for something you can get for free?
If the cost of ACDs is any indication of some TV set, count me out.
Streaming content is nowhere near as popular as optical media and cable/satellite services. Apple just hit 25 percent of the music market a good 7 or so years into selling it. The main success was the iTunes store combined with iTunes (on computers) and iPods. You could still play your CDs while Apple kept offering you that alternative of buying their music online. As iPods got cheaper and more functional, more people scooped them up. CDs and digital audio files co-exist perfectly fine, and I doubt that will really change until every single person in this country owns a computer, broadband connection and iPod or something similar.
The same goes with video/home theater. If Apple were to build a unit with an optical drive and iPhone-like OS and app store, it would be a killer box. The ATV playback software seems to be like the mentally challenged cousin of iTunes, which is a main thing holding me back from buying an ATV. What I basically want is a lesser-featured Mac mini that I don't need a keyboard/mouse or crappy Apple Remote to control. I love watching seasons of TV shows in iTunes that keep playing via playlists. Yet ATV doesn't do that.
If it were my project, here's my lineup:
$149: 40GB-ish ATV, no optical drive
$249: 80GB-ish ATV, DVD drive
$349: 120GB-ish ATV, BD drive
You could interchange these HDDs and even offer SSDs. I would personally use desktop hard drives and just make the damn thing bigger so money could be saved. These would all use an Atom CPU and have whatever memory is needed for such a device. Open up an app store for it and watch it turn into a poor man's gaming console plus media hub. Add some remote with multi-touch and you've got a winner.
Streaming content is nowhere near as popular as optical media and cable/satellite services. Apple just hit 25 percent of the music market a good 7 or so years into selling it. The main success was the iTunes store combined with iTunes (on computers) and iPods. You could still play your CDs while Apple kept offering you that alternative of buying their music online. As iPods got cheaper and more functional, more people scooped them up. CDs and digital audio files co-exist perfectly fine, and I doubt that will really change until every single person in this country owns a computer, broadband connection and iPod or something similar.
The same goes with video/home theater. If Apple were to build a unit with an optical drive and iPhone-like OS and app store, it would be a killer box. The ATV playback software seems to be like the mentally challenged cousin of iTunes, which is a main thing holding me back from buying an ATV. What I basically want is a lesser-featured Mac mini that I don't need a keyboard/mouse or crappy Apple Remote to control. I love watching seasons of TV shows in iTunes that keep playing via playlists. Yet ATV doesn't do that.
If it were my project, here's my lineup:
$149: 40GB-ish ATV, no optical drive
$249: 80GB-ish ATV, DVD drive
$349: 120GB-ish ATV, BD drive
You could interchange these HDDs and even offer SSDs. I would personally use desktop hard drives and just make the damn thing bigger so money could be saved. These would all use an Atom CPU and have whatever memory is needed for such a device. Open up an app store for it and watch it turn into a poor man's gaming console plus media hub. Add some remote with multi-touch and you've got a winner.
About time
About time if you ask me. The other day I sat in my sofa, watching a show on TV and they presented a URL on screen and my laptop was in the other room and I thought to myself "why dont they have a PiP built in web browser in the TV? Then I would have checked ou this URL right away."
About time if you ask me. The other day I sat in my sofa, watching a show on TV and they presented a URL on screen and my laptop was in the other room and I thought to myself "why dont they have a PiP built in web browser in the TV? Then I would have checked ou this URL right away."
I would like to see more innovations on computers (more than just nice looking aluminium enclosures), but Apple more and more moves towards stupid "pay, sit back and consume only" devices...
Christian
Christian
Well, if this is indeed the case and Apple plans to release a television then I can only say that, for me, this is too late. We only just replaced our old CRT set with a 42" LCD that will do full HD so I can't see my wife approving the purchase of something else within the next 10-years. With so many people now with LCD televisions and the like following the price crash over recent years, I honestly wonder how big the market is for such devices now and whether Apple will have "missed the boat". A set-top box (like the Apple TV) makes much more sense since this will integrate with what the customer already has without needing them to make an expensive purchase.
I'm therefore simply hoping that they are going to overhaul the Apple TV by bringing it up-to-date and slashing its price to something sensible. Given the announcement earlier this week, you can buy a PS3 for the same price as the basic Apple TV (at least in Europe - not sure about the US) and that'll do more, plus is likely to be around for longer.
I'm therefore simply hoping that they are going to overhaul the Apple TV by bringing it up-to-date and slashing its price to something sensible. Given the announcement earlier this week, you can buy a PS3 for the same price as the basic Apple TV (at least in Europe - not sure about the US) and that'll do more, plus is likely to be around for longer.
Dear god,
what a bunch naysayers and whiney b*s.
I envisage a lower end AppleTV, based on iPhone chipset to reduce power requirements and price.
At the high end a single panel from the likes of LG or Samsung, branded with the Apple Logo and the AppleTV Unit built in.
That gives them the opportunity to sell to someone who really likes the integration a premium product from Apple can provide and for everyone else they can choose a HD panel from whomever they like and plug the next gen AppleTV in.
It's minimal risk for Apple to resell 1 panel and sure it might go the way of the iPod HiFi or the Cube, but if it's successful i think it'll be a nice if smaller biz than Mac or iPod.
M.
what a bunch naysayers and whiney b*s.
I envisage a lower end AppleTV, based on iPhone chipset to reduce power requirements and price.
At the high end a single panel from the likes of LG or Samsung, branded with the Apple Logo and the AppleTV Unit built in.
That gives them the opportunity to sell to someone who really likes the integration a premium product from Apple can provide and for everyone else they can choose a HD panel from whomever they like and plug the next gen AppleTV in.
It's minimal risk for Apple to resell 1 panel and sure it might go the way of the iPod HiFi or the Cube, but if it's successful i think it'll be a nice if smaller biz than Mac or iPod.
M.
Dear god,
what a bunch naysayers and whiney b*s.
I envisage a lower end AppleTV, based on iPhone chipset to reduce power requirements and price.
At the high end a single panel from the likes of LG or Samsung, branded with the Apple Logo and the AppleTV Unit built in.
That gives them the opportunity to sell to someone who really likes the integration a premium product from Apple can provide and for everyone else they can choose a HD panel from whomever they like and plug the next gen AppleTV in.
It's minimal risk for Apple to resell 1 panel and sure it might go the way of the iPod HiFi or the Cube, but if it's successful i think it'll be a nice if smaller biz than Mac or iPod.
M.
Like many here said, it's not necessarily a bad idea if it is implemented well, but the evidence that Munster bases it on is just plain ridiculous. Or he must know something that he didn't write. His predictions have never been very dependable though..