A “hobby” is how Steve Jobs still refers to AppleTV three years after its launch in 2007. The NY Times reports from the D8 conference, Jobs expressed his views on set-top boxes…
“The problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go-to-market strategy. The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set top box for free. So no one wants to buy a box. Ask TiVo, ask Roku, ask us…ask Google in a few months. The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everyone a set-top box, and that pretty much undermines innovation in the sector. The only way this is going to change is if you start from scratch, tear up the box, redesign and get it to the consumer in a way that they want to buy it.” http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/06/03/03gigaom-google-tv-or-apple-tv-54089.html
Rumors continue to circulate about “the new” AppleTV. The latest is the $100 AppleTV which holds sufficient memory in which to download (from the “cloud”) one movie into its RAM for viewing. This also may be the introduction of “Keychest”, a technology soon to be unveiled, which allows a consumer to own a movie or TV show by redefining ownership as access rights, not physical possession. Read more about Keychest: http://elifespaces.com/blog/2009/10/21/keychest/. The new AppleTV may also allow more “gaming” opportunities by incorporating gaming “apps” for interaction on the family TV.
If I knew the future, I’d be as rich as Steve Jobs! Who knows… but as AppleTV butts up against the newly released GoogleTV – the game is on. May the best “mousetrap” win.
Tags: Apple, Apple Rumors, ESC Forward Looking, Technology Ahead