Apple TV Cost Breakdown

[NavyIntel007]

This is pure speculation. There is no way Apple would let a 3rd party know how much it is buying components for. Apple probably makes about $100 on every aTV40 and $175+ on every aTV160. I bet those Pentium Ms are excess inventory from intel that was a firesale and got the job done until Intel comes out with an all-in-one processor/HD decoder that runs much cooler and drops the number of components (i.e. making more money).

But even if the margins were that low, who would buy it that doesn't have an ipod? use itunes? have/want a mac? This is another lifestyle product (gateway drug) for all you apple lovers (addicts). It's also a nice HP Printer theory. If you buy it you'll buy movies/tv shows/music off of itunes.

 

[milo]

who would buy it that doesn't have an ipod? use itunes? have/want a mac?

Since a huge number of people have iPods and use iTunes, isn't this a moot point? iTunes/iPod compatibility is one of the biggest selling points and one of the big weaknesses of an xbox or similar solution.

 

[jim.arrows]

Since a huge number of people have iPods and use iTunes, isn't this a moot point? iTunes/iPod compatibility is one of the biggest selling points and one of the big weaknesses of an xbox or similar solution.

lol, exactly. When you have 70% market penetration and the phrase "iPod Economy" has actually been coined, I think that's a large enough target market to shoot for. And that's EXACTLY why I prefer it over the x360 media center, is the easy integration with iTunes; purchases made at the iTS are immediately available with no transcoding to other formats. I hate having to run purchases through tunebite before they're available on the media center...

 

[One Bad Duck]

There's so much chat about DVR's and the like how easy and reliable is it to perform one of these tv hacks to OSX, stick a higher cap hard drive and link up eyetv and record off that. it would link to front row for all your meida needs. job done?

Or why not spend tha bit more on a basic mac mini?

of course all this not condsidering warranties of course.

OnBdDuck

 

[skellener]

I didn't realize till now that the Xbox allows me to play all my itunes music, view my iphoto library, view movies I make or rip, watch Youtube videos, all with a seamless interface...

In fact, it actually does all of those things now.

 

[skellener]

Once they get aTV completely integrated with iTS and start offering the HD downloads that were implied with the 160GB version, you'll start to "get" it...

Yes, I have been waiting for this. I'd like to see HD rentals myself.

 

[whatever]

New Apple TV (160GB) Up and Running

Hi everyone, well I've got my new Theater system up and running (Pioneer Elite 50" 1080P Monitor, Elite VSX-82TXS and Apple TV). Once everything was installed (in wall surround speakers were placed in my walls) I connected my Apple TV to my iTunes which has music, movies (ripped) and other stuff. Within a few minutes I was doing a full demo of Apple TV. The two techs who did my install are now both sold on Apple TV. I was streaming Star Wars from my iTunes Library to my Apple TV and it looked and sounded awesome.

This system rocked! I then checked the videos that I've downloaded from the iTunes store and they looked great too! I really don't know why Apple doesn't use better TVs to show off Apple TV at their stores (I was really disappointed when I first saw it and thought it was the content, but now I think it's the TVs).

Yes, this a hobby product. Yes, today it is. Being an early adopter of the iPod (5GB when it first came out), I agree that owning an Apple TV is exactly like owning a first Gen iPod. It can do a lot more than Apple claims it can do and with a little work (ripping DVDs, adding cover art, adding info, etc) it's awesome.

 

[gnasher729]

Exactly. Gross Margins are not equal to Net Profit.

And we are not even talking gross margins here. There is:

1. Cost of parts - the money Apple pays for all the parts in an Apple TV.
2. Manufacturing cost - the money Apple pays to get one Apple TV out of the plant.
3. Gross margin - what you pay, minus what Apple paid to get one Apple TV from the plant, minus the cost of selling it to you, covering all the cost that Apple has because _you_ decided to buy it.
4. Profit: Gross margin, minus development cost, minus advertisement cost, minus some percentage of the cast of running the company.