There is no reason for Apple to tackle this market. Not only is it declining, people won't tolerate the profit margin Apple demands to make it worthwhile to them, not to mention that they won't be able to iterate like they do. The problem isn't the TV, it's the iron grip the media companies have on the content. Apple can't affect that well enough for it to be a smart strategy. People don't replace their HDTV often enough for it to be profitable, and Apple would want far too much for anyone but the hardest of hardcore Apple fans to pay the ridiculous price they would charge. The market is trending downward quickly because people don't buy TVs unless it's Thanksgiving slasher sales, and they are a 10 year replacement cycle device. People literally assault one another because they get a 36"-46" TV for a few hundred dollars, Apple doesn't want to be in that market because they won't make the profit they are accustomed to. Besides, are you going to carry an unwieldy 60 or so pound TV into an Apple store? No.
I'm in no way interested in an Apple TV because streaming content would kill stupidly low data cap with my ISP, and Apple won't affect the fact that they want to charge a ridiculous fee for cable. I'm not interested in cable because I'd have to pay well over $100 a month for what I do want to watch, and even iTunes episodes are out after it airs on TV. They simply won't make a dent because the content is the problem, not what you watch it on. Cable boxes and the UI are crap, I know that, but I want better a freer access to content, not yet another layer of rules and payment for the content in another place.
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If Apple really want to dominate the home media and TV market then they need to do something that seems to be unique in the market..... make it work with all my existing stuff, and by that I mean my existing movie files.
That will
never happen. Apple isn't interested in making your content that you paid for work on anything but their hardware. The same is true for everyone else. On top of that, media companies want you to pay for it either every time you try and access it, or pay to access it on every device you own. That is slowly being eroded, but DRM, different and unsupported formats, and ecosystems are making that a pointless effort anyway. The problem is the media companies.
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Standard replacement on TVs is usually once in a generation barring failure, so most people who bought an HD tv, might have bought an early 1080i set, and upgraded to a 1080P set, and might now be looking at a 3D set.
I am waiting for Glasses free 3D before i look at buying a 3D set, possibly combining that with 4K resolutions, i see no need , baring failure, to replace my current TV set when new "features" are added by connecting a little box to it
Nope. Everyone waits until a really good sale happens on Amazon, or Black Friday. They don't update because a new fangled feature comes out. 3D was, and was always going to be a gimmick. 3D TV sales were never all that great, and the industry is seeing massive decline because people don't buy a TV unless it breaks, or they literally can't plug anything into it anymore. We are nerds, we like hardware, we like shiny new stuff, but we are not everyman. TVs are a 10 year purchase, not a refresh cycle or feature addition purchase. Even though I bought my 1080p set three years ago for a really good price, I'm not going to replace it unless it absolutely dies, or it's too expensive to fix. There's no point in replacing a TV unless it dies.
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I always have the latest technology, and money isn't a limiting factor.
Anyone with common sense would just sell their previous generation model product for the latest. You can easily stay at the cutting-edge at 50% of the cost.
You aren't the everyman. Because you like to waste money replacing something that isn't broken or physically unable to be used (because of different plugs or things like HDCP) doesn't mean that everyone does that. In fact, that's very rare and has been for years. You are the very small minority. Anyone with common sense wouldn't replace something just to have an extra port, or a worthless gimmick (3D).
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Xbox 360 with Kinect already has a lot of these things. It has an intuitive controller method, it has Xbox Music (which is like spotify, but prettier and more song), it has on demand video streaming, which can be a shared viewing experience. It has some programming aswell, such as sports. It has video chat. It has a web browser. It has best in class games. It now also has skydrive so you can access the photos and other stuff you've taken with your phone (if a windows phone they are auto uploaded). It has apps, allthough not yet an open app store - it's just open for partners. And then there is smartglass which integrates it with tablets and phones - running ios, android and windows for a second screen experience.
It's also plastered with annoying ass ads. I simply don't use it because I have to troll through all that garbage to get to what I want. And Kinect is crap. Has been from day one.
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And don't tell me it's never going to happen. Just look at the iTunes music store.
It won't. You can quote me on that in 10 years. It will
never happen. The iTunes music store is full of garbage at bargain bin prices. Lady GaGa(rbage) latest album was on Amazon on
release day at $0.99. That shows you right there what they think their own content is worth. Almost nothing.
Advertising companies don't spend millions on campaigns on the albums or songs you bought. The no-talent "artists" we have today won't be here in 10 years, actors can last for 50 if they are good enough. A really great actor can pull in
billions over their career. Music is disposable, overproduced garbage written to fit in between radio commercials. "free" music services are riddled with ads unless you pay a fee, or listen to the same crap over and over. The big media companies own
all of it and they won't ever let go of media that they can't shove ads down our throat through. Various formats, hardware requirements, DRM and other things have stopped this for years, and you can bet your last dollar they are hard at work making sure all of that evolves as quickly as possible to make it all still locked down in some way.
Hell, they are sending people to jail for longer than murderers are locked up for distributing media in ways people want, but in ways they can't monetize and control. You honestly think that will change?
TV to be the iLife center in your iPhone / iPad but iMac-less life. I mean, I can really see this TV initiative being the central hub in my house if i had no need for a real desk/laptop.
