Steve Jobs always seemed to state (this seems especially true after reading his biography), that a company should focus on a small number of items, and do extremely well in those areas. Would branching into the tv industry, be reaching 'too far' on Apple's part?
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Is the foretold 'Apple Television' too much for Apple?
- Thread starter jhead95
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The way I see that philosophy is that a company should only do as much as it can do very well, and cut the cruft. Apple has many mature products now, and branching into TV is just the next step, just like the iPad and iPhone were before it.
I see it as a natural extension if it indeed comes to pass
Especially with a seamless integration with the other devices
Especially with a seamless integration with the other devices
Not suggesting that Apple should go into TVs, but focus on a small number of products is what has hurt, RIM, Nokia and Motorola for instance.
I disagree that focusing on a smaller product matrix is what has hurt Moto, RIM and Nokia. These companies have faltered because of lousy management that is stuck on past successes.
Motorola's struggles are plainly evident and has been on display since the early 2000's. They owned (even more than Apple ever owned the mp3 player market) the cell phone market back in the analog days. They were slow to jump onto digital and they lost their lead to Nokia. After slowly bleeding out, they had a big hit with the RAZR, but they held onto to the RAZR while everyone else was onto smart(er) phones. Now, they're a shell of their former selves.
I not as in tuned with Nokia or RIM, but it seems that their problems also stem from their reluctance to move away from a profitable, but stagnating, platform. Nokia held onto to Symbian and RIM has held onto their enterprise servers too long.
In the end, very little innovation is what has hurt these companies, not a small and focused product line. NOTE - back in the Moto heydays, they had a HUGE product line. Phones, walkie-talkies, cable boxes (through acquisition), cell network products, PCs, etc. They were everywhere.
I think it's too much for any company.
In this world of constant upgrading, do you really want a hopefully long term big purchase like a TV, to outlive it's usefulness early?
How many versions of "Smart TV" have all the manufacturers gone through already? My Bluray player has Viera Cast, (the first version, not the second) and can't be upgraded due to hardware limitations, and certainly doesn't do the latest Viera Connect.
Samsung, LG, Vizio, all the same, different names.
Sure, Apple will get it "right" the first time.
But will they guarantee the hardware in that TV to be fully compatible with any and all possible future ideas, upgrades, etc. for the next 5-10 years?
Does your 1st Gen iPhone do iOS5?
Give me the $100 dollar box any day...
In this world of constant upgrading, do you really want a hopefully long term big purchase like a TV, to outlive it's usefulness early?
How many versions of "Smart TV" have all the manufacturers gone through already? My Bluray player has Viera Cast, (the first version, not the second) and can't be upgraded due to hardware limitations, and certainly doesn't do the latest Viera Connect.
Samsung, LG, Vizio, all the same, different names.
Sure, Apple will get it "right" the first time.
But will they guarantee the hardware in that TV to be fully compatible with any and all possible future ideas, upgrades, etc. for the next 5-10 years?
Does your 1st Gen iPhone do iOS5?
Give me the $100 dollar box any day...