Squeezing Out a Big One?

[Mac In School]

Advertising campaign, that is.

Right now it looks like AppleTV is completely being ignored, while they focus on iPhone, Leopard, new iMacs, etc.

They're just waiting for the right time. AppleTV, in its current form, is over the heads of the average consumer. It seems daunting. Just like MP3 players seemed daunting, until they got so appealing that people were willing to step outside their comfort zone and give them a shot. Then BOOM! The rage hit.

My Prediction: AppleTV will launch their movie/TV iTunes rental service in the fall/winter, and will start pushing AppleTV as a way to watch those movies on your TV. It won't explode like the iPod did, but it will gain enough momentum to warrant continuing to build upon it.

 

[Shoesy]

Nostalgia

When this great day comes I can come straight out and say-

'I got in on the ground level man. I remember when you couldn't see youtube- or the itunes store, or even buy a film on a mac!'

Great days.

 

[MacPossum]

My Prediction: AppleTV will launch their movie/TV iTunes rental service in the fall/winter, and will start pushing AppleTV as a way to watch those movies on your TV. It won't explode like the iPod did, but it will gain enough momentum to warrant continuing to build upon it.

If they decide to allow rentals from iTunes, I'll be in the Apple Store the next day buying myself one of those tv's

 

[DoFoT9]

personally i really dont see that the tv is all that good. it isnt really that succesful either, in the scheme of things.

in my country i would not buy it, it would not be feasible at all to get it.

 

[kwood]

It would be a lot better of a product if it wasn't designed specifically for HDTVs. I know it can be used on standard non wide screen televisions but it doesn't look as good. Not everyone can afford a HDTV even though they have dropped in price. The Apple TV in my opinion is just an expensive toy for wealthy people not the average consumer.

I do not think it will ever be as successful as the iPod, even with movie rentals.

 

[powerbook911]

I think it could be somewhat successful, but that it will change *a lot* over time.

I agree with the above that maybe it should have worked with regular TVs too, since Apple sells content really made more for regular TVs than HDTVs.

 

[janey]

Right now it looks like AppleTV is completely being ignored, while they focus on iPhone, Leopard, new iMacs, etc.

Because the appletv doesn't really do much except play your media on your TV maybe. And it's overpriced.

And bandwidth speeds aren't fast enough...downloads of movies aren't exactly small. Having to wait hours to download one movie is something probably most people don't want to do, as it's probably easier and potentially faster to use netflix to get higher quality dvds. And well, the quality of the downloads from iTunes aren't very impressive.

 

[Kuska]

Apple TV Awesome!!

I guess its only going to be a great product if it works for the individual.
My family have a great deal of fun from it - we can comfortably watch our photos in a decent slideshow - cramming around the iMac just didn't work for us - even when we have music playing through it the random photo slideshow is fun to watch. We are using You Tube more and more (just wasting time really) and since buying the turbo.264 we can easily access family and other video. Sure movie downloads would be the logical next step - but for now we are really pleased we have the TV as it has completely changed the way we access and now actually consume our home made media.

 

[pilotError]

I'm pretty happy with mine, we Play iTunes through the stereo. Most people are pretty blown away when the screen saver turns on and shows your photo album floating by.

I do have an HDTV though, I have to say that its pretty useless without one.

My next step is to hack it open and put a bigger drive in. I hope Apple releases the external USB storage as an upgrade, so I don't have to hack it open. I'm not big on the streaming thing, so I definitely need more room!

The kids like YouTube, but I need to keep an eye on them, they are a little young for most of the content on there.

 

[APPLENEWBIE]

I agree with the appleTV users above. AppleTV is great for what it does, and actually, it does a lot. Making music available through the "Hifi" receiver is a huge thing. Unlocks the music. Photo slideshows are great fun. YouTube is a wonderful (efficient?) time waster. Having a few "classic" movies synced is very handy. I have a 40gb machine and I do not regret getting it instead of the 160gb machine. Streaming works just swell for me. Never been a problem yet. Several visitors have been amazed by how cool the screensavers are.

The one thing that I have encountered problems with... trying to explain to others what appleTV is/does. If I try the "Ipod on your tv" explanation, I get a blank stare, usually. Trying to get too technical doesn't usually work too well either. Does anyone have a good "script" that they can share about how to explain the appleTV?

 

[vandlism]

It would be a lot better of a product if it wasn't designed specifically for HDTVs. I know it can be used on standard non wide screen televisions but it doesn't look as good. Not everyone can afford a HDTV even though they have dropped in price. The Apple TV in my opinion is just an expensive toy for wealthy people not the average consumer.

I do not think it will ever be as successful as the iPod, even with movie rentals.

HDTV's are becoming evermore affordable. Of course the AppleTV wouldn't be a smash hit as soon as it launched, due to the technical requirements of the device. The concept is certainly catching on though, and people are buying better tv's and home stereo setups.

And no, it won't be as successful as the iPod. That would be ridiculous. Everyone seems to have an iPod, or some mp3 player, now. Music has become something people bring with them everywhere. Even those who don't listen to music can use it for audiobooks and podcasts. The AppleTV is mostly for movies. Not to mention that one AppleTV per household would suffice, maybe two. So yeah, significantly less numbers but that's okay.

But it offers convenience, like none other. My movies, tv shows, podcasts and music can be played on my iPod. I can also use any of them at anytime on my MacBook. If I turn on my AppleTV, I can easily look through my entire collection and enjoy it on a nice home theater. If family comes over I can do a slideshow. If a friend brings a laptop over after a trip, we can stream their slideshow to the AppleTV. I can watch movie trailers on a big screen.

To offer better content on the iTS, though, Apple needs to beef up the iPod. Right now it is serving to the lowest common denominator, and the AppleTV can do just so much better than iPod requirements. A rental service could easily rival Netflix and Blockbuster, again on convenience. In iTunes you can usually begin watching a movie only after a few minutes. It will continue downloading in the background once you begin watching. So the latency issue probably wouldn't be all too bad. Granted you would need a decent internet connection, but nothing outrageous.

 

[KDR]

Everyone who sees my appletv in action loves it. Problem is that almost none of them have gone tot he effort to:

1. Put all of their old cds on itunes
2. Don't have access to 5,000 digital pictures
3. Don't have a hdtv
4. Don't have a receiver with an optical input

So they all sit in admiration and confusion and wont buy it.

I love it and I don't think it is overpriced when compared to an ipod.

I also have a Playstation 3, which blows the appletv away. It has a Blu-ray player, streams photos and hd home movies and I haven't even mentioned games. For $499 it does make the appletv look overpriced. I think that the PS3 is one of the most underrated devices on the market.

 

[mr_matalino]

Sure there are things Apple can do to improve it (ie photo viewing) but I love it for what it can do...let me watch shows/movies on my HDTV. What they need to do is put a processor/video RAM that can handle decoing HD MKV files (Blu-ray, etc...). That would be the end all for media as we know it...

 

[mr_matalino]

It would be a lot better of a product if it wasn't designed specifically for HDTVs. I know it can be used on standard non wide screen televisions but it doesn't look as good. Not everyone can afford a HDTV even though they have dropped in price. The Apple TV in my opinion is just an expensive toy for wealthy people not the average consumer.

I do not think it will ever be as successful as the iPod, even with movie rentals.

Go work at Circuit City. 50% off some HDTV's!! Thank goodness for Accomodations!!!

 

[Coprolite]

Appropriate thread for first post.

I figured that the title of this thread would be the appropriate place for my first post.

I've been lurking for a long time, but too many topics are making me feel like posting!

Peace

 

[roker]

Welcome Coprolite!!

I don't like the TV, I think the reason Airport Extreme hasn't got AirTunes is because of TV, & as many others have suggested, it could be one of the causes of the Mac Mini's possible demise. However, if I had a use for the TV I would have bought one. Since I don't, & since I would have a use for both an Airport Extreme (Only if & when it gets AirTunes) & a Mac mini, I dislike the TV.

 

[janey]

I agree with the appleTV users above. AppleTV is great for what it does, and actually, it does a lot....

I have to disagree.

I have a mythbox that foremost is a PVR, one huge thing the AppleTV would benefit from being but can't do - so include all those features...play/pause live tv, record shows... Then it can play all my media in practically every format imaginable from my vast collection because it's backed by ffmpeg..and because I can't stand the lock-in with iTunes DRM ****, all the better that I don't have to reencode videos. It can also play all my songs..even though it doesn't sync with iTunes, it's not a loss cause at least I don't have much of an issue playing ogg or flac files. I can do photo slideshows. I can rip dvds. I can use the web interface to control things. I can browse the web!

Alternatively, I can setup my mac mini to do so much of the same things and possibly more than both an appletv or mythbox setup.

 

[wngraham]

I absolutely love my TV, my only regret was pre-ordering and not holding out for the 160 GB model (my iTunes library is 106 GB music, 13 GB TV shows, 28 GB movies).

I've had zero problems syncing over my Airport Extreme network, but having everything already on the HDD would be nice.