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Apple TV Seeing Moderate Success, But No Hardware Update Imminent?
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
You don't. But this thread is about selling success. An
TV can sell well at $99. If an iDevice is required to fully enjoy it, it's no longer a $99 device, but a $99 + $229 or more device. You may already have your "game controller", "deluxe remote", etc. But there is a much larger world out there that don't have iDevices.And again, in your vision, unless you are single living alone, when you leave home and take that iDevice with you, the rest of the family would be unhappy that the "good remote", "game controller", etc goes with you. Foster that dependency in > 1-person households is a quick way to take the "mobile" out of mobile iDevices.
It's an open question about what happens to the iPhone 4 after the iPhone 4s or 5 is released, but if they follow the model of the past several upgrades, the iPhone 4 with A4 processor will get cheaper and fill the "bargain entry point" spot in the lineup until the iPhone 6 (or real iPhone 5 if we see an iPhone 4s come out) comes around.
So, Apple may continue having a fairly major need for A4 chips well into the next year, and thus not have any rush to move the ATV2 to A5.
That having been said, another possibility which has been bandied around is the introduction of a "low-cost" iPhone 4s which gets the A5 and little else, alongside the real iPhone 5. In that case, yes, you are right that an A4-based ATV2 would seem to be not long for this world.
Pickup a Refurb. That is what I did. $85 w/Free Shipping
Wow good idea! I might just do that if I don't see a new one in September
I love my TV2. I jailbroke it the day it was delivered. It has worked flawlessly.
If Apple were to offer a subscription plan for access to their online video library, I would sign up in a heartbeat, provided it is not priced to high. If this happens you will see the devices adoption rate skyrocket!
TV2. I jailbroke it the day it was delivered. It has worked flawlessly. If Apple were to offer a subscription plan for access to their online video library, I would sign up in a heartbeat, provided it is not priced to high. If this happens you will see the devices adoption rate skyrocket!
Oh boy, don't get THIS group started on that one. If they believe Apple will stick with 720p, you'll get a 1000 arguments why 720p is good enough including bandwidth issues, file storage issues, "the chart", content must be in iTunes before it makes sense to launch a 1080p
And if they believe that Apple is about to embrace 1080p, you'll get 1000 arguments of how great it will be to have maximum quality picture & sound, a true head-to-head competitor for the "bag of hurt", I can finally push my 1080p video from iTunes to my HDTV without downconverting it first, etc.
I'm in the 1080p camp because better hardware can always play lessor software, but it doesn't work the other way. Those that believe "720p is good enough" could still buy a
I hope Apple gets with it and finally rolls this out.
I think the point of the "720P is good enough camp" (of which I am a proud member ... hell, most of my video watching is in SD anyway!) is that it doesn't matter to us that the ATV2 doesn't support 1080p. It'd be nice if it did, but on a practical level, it wouldn't make it any better fit.
That said, I'm sure the next ATV will support 1080p, and I'm sure some people will claim that because of that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. There might even be a few folks around who say that who today are claiming that 720P is good enough. I think painting everyone who is happy with 720p with that same broad brush, however, is a bit insulting.
You don't. But this thread is about selling success. An
And again, in your vision, unless you are single living alone, when you leave home and take that iDevice with you, the rest of the family would be unhappy that the "good remote", "game controller", etc goes with you. Foster that dependency in > 1-person households is a quick way to take the "mobile" out of mobile iDevices.
My wife and I both have iPhones and my son gets our old phones (essentially a iTouch w/o Cell) when we upgrade. So plenty of iDevices in our house.
But I do agree with you. To fully utilize the units full potential, additional purchases are required, which is one of the larger issues preventing sales.
Quick Note on 1080p support: With today's ISPs continually raising rates and lower bandwidth caps many of us can not afford to stream 1080P into our homes.
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I've got an ATV2, a new AirPort Extreme (latest generation), two iPads and two iPhones (and a MacBook Pro). I love ATV but I have to restart AirPort Extreme (pull the power plug, waiting some seconds, plugging again) in one of five attempts to get the Remote app (on iPhone or iPad) recognizing Apple TV or to get my MBP streaming to ATV. All devices never jailbroken.
Apple should fix that as soon as possible please.
Apple should fix that as soon as possible please.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
That's great for YOUR household. My neighbor has NO iDevices but loves the idea of
TV (covets mine greatly). He is very interested in an TV.His neighbor is in the very same boat.
Another neighbor across the street is also in that same boat.
The voices here are a very small subset of the world. There are many people that don't have ONE iDevice but they LOVE their HDTV.
Two features make ATV2's worth it for me... 1) playing/browsing my entire library vs. switching disks in and out. 2) the (soon to be) wireless mirroring feature. I also can browse my library on my other iOS devices and send that content to the television via the ATV2. Everything else is just icing.
I dont think it will be long until the airplay functionality and library access functionality are built into televisions, negating the need for the hockey puck.
I dont think it will be long until the airplay functionality and library access functionality are built into televisions, negating the need for the hockey puck.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Again, the fallacy is that a 1080p
TV would force us all to ONLY download 1080p content. That's not true at all. Right now, our 720p TVs have a choice of 720p content or SD content. If we live somewhere where 720p files are too big or too much of a bandwidth eater, we can choose the lessor (SD) option. Those lessor options won't go away if 1080p options appear.I have ZERO expectations that would change with a 1080p
TV launch. Don't want (or can't wait for or afford) the 1080p media? Choose the lessor 720p or SD version... exactly as we can do now.
You'll have this if you also have an iPad. With the iOS5 upgrade and the mirroring feature; you can run the iPlayer app on the iPad and mirror to the AppleTV.
So are you contending that Logitech is selling off its stock of GoogleTV 'Revue' devices at a substantial loss because they are selling / are soon to be selling a significantly improved version of it?
All your examples (Android phones, white Macbooks, iPad 1) are devices which are on "closeout" because they have been replaced by newer models. I don't see any indication that this is the case with the Revue. Logitech is admitting complete and utter failure here, and has given every indication that they are absolutely closing out their line of GoogleTV device(s ... except there never was a second one). They even canned the CEO responsible for that expensive failure.
Which means of the three ways to "getit" according to http://www.google.com/tv/getit.html the only remaining ways are buying a new Sony TV or buying a new Sony Internet TV Blu-ray (now on sale for $100 less, at $299!). That's a damned expensive way to play Angry Birds on a big screen!
I'd also note that both standalone GoogleTV products got really crappy reviews, which has a lot to do with how well they are selling I suspect. People wanted them to do what they said on the side of the box, but they just didn't. Compare that to AppleTV reviews, where people tend to complain that the side of the box just doesn't contain the feature they wish it did - it doesn't make them coffee in the morning and scrub the toilets.
IMHO, the competition here is Apple vs Roku. Google has failed (at least the current iteration). It's actually surprising how well that little Roku company has done in competing with Apple in this space.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I'm not sure I understand the insult. I'm not putting down the "720p is good enough" crowd. I'm basically saying if that floats your boat, GREAT! It just doesn't float everyone's boat. Better hardware will play that very same 720p video to the MAX. I think both crowds (here anyway) care about Apple (sometimes blindly), so whether one is a member of either camp, a 1080p
TV will motivate sales to all of those "1080p or bust" people too, driving more sales for Apple without requiring any sacrifice at all for the "720pers". If there is some insult between the lines, I apologize. I'm actually looking for a win:win:win (720pers: 1080pers: Apple), which is best realized by finally rolling out hardware capable of meeting the wants or needs of BOTH camps rather than just one who happens to be satisfied with the status quo.
I'm typing this on a quad core i7 iMac. It is far superior hardware than necessary to run this software so I can make this message. But I'm glad to have that better hardware for when my software demands are greater than using this website form. Fortunately, Apple chooses to deliver hardware in Macs and iDevices that are far ahead of average needs, leading the way with hardware so that software can "catch up". In general, we Apple fans cheer for those advances well beyond our current status quo, except... for some reason, with this device, where a pool of us seem to make very passionate arguments against better hardware. I never understand that.
I've had 1080 capable HDTVs for about 10 years now. I've had 1080 video camcorders for about 5+ years now. I've had the tools from Apple to edit & render & play 1080 video on Macs for about 5+ years now. It would be so nice to get this last link in the chain from Apple without having to downconvert or turn to other sources like Roku (and jeopardize some of the other niceties of the
TV).I'm not sure my ears can hear the difference between 128kbps vs. iTunes Plus on iPods. But I'm sure glad my iPods have had the "better hardware" to play even lossless quality audio should I develop that hearing (or if say YOU had that hearing). It's good that the crowd is not arguing "128kpbs audio is good enough" or that Apple has arbitrarily decided to limit iPod playback to that maximum because Apple decides it's good enough for us.
I don't often fully tax this iMac with the software I use, but I sometimes use software that does push its limits. I'm sure glad that no one argued that "G3 is good enough" or that Apple decided that "the vast majority of people don't need more power than what a G3 can cover, so there's no need to advance Macs with anything better than a G3 processor." I bet there's a "the chart" equivalent somewhere that would show that average computer users would be just fine with G3 Macs, so why build G4, G5, Intel, Dual Core, Quad Core, etc if G3 would be good enough for the average user, or someone like you or I?
There are plenty of people (here) hungry of LTE iPhones, happily settling for 3G now and finding themselves actually getting their data at Edge (2G). Edge works for many but I'm glad that's not used to argue that "2G is good enough", or "I'm happy with 2G where I am and see no reason for 3G or 4G" (for anyone else).
I respect that 720p is good enough for you. I have a 720p-capped
TV myself. The difference appears to be that I recognize it as the weakest link in my video consumption chain where you seem to be perfectly happy with that (Apple) decision for your consumption. If your belief was mandated for all, all of the 1080pers can't get what they want, so they can't join this party and Apple can't sell those additional units to them. If my want was mandated for all, they could get what they want, Apple could sell more units, and you could still enjoy your 720p to it's fullest.Last I heard Apple wants to always sell more hardware. There are plenty of posts even in this thread that wants to buy Apple hardware if it is 1080p. There is NO loss at all for the 720pers if Apple finally makes that move.
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Well, that settles it.....Roku 2 it is. I was leaning that way to begin with, but I figured I might as well wait a little while and listen for some apple TV 3 rumors. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes that apple would just push out some software revisions in sept to make apple TV 2 play nice with the goodies they're REALLY pushing.
It's just $100....I'll snag the Roku 2 until something impresses me with the apple TV.
*Edit*
For the Apple TV to usurp the Roku 2 in my entertainment center, It would need some drastic revision....Hulu + is a must, as well as 1080p and user-decided content (AKA an App store). Gaming is a gimmick I can easily live without, but I definitely need a way to get the content I want and I already have on there without having to buy it again on iTunes or spend a weekend converting and shoveling it into an already bloated iTunes. Roku has plex without needing to jailbreak....
It's just $100....I'll snag the Roku 2 until something impresses me with the apple TV.
*Edit*
For the Apple TV to usurp the Roku 2 in my entertainment center, It would need some drastic revision....Hulu + is a must, as well as 1080p and user-decided content (AKA an App store). Gaming is a gimmick I can easily live without, but I definitely need a way to get the content I want and I already have on there without having to buy it again on iTunes or spend a weekend converting and shoveling it into an already bloated iTunes. Roku has plex without needing to jailbreak....
I would be disappointed if there isn't an ATV3 this year
Roku is way ahead of apple & thats sad cause i also have a roku player & i think it sucks
Roku is way ahead of apple & thats sad cause i also have a roku player & i think it sucks
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
No, but I'm also not using this failure of this incarnation as an argument of how right Apple got it with either incarnation of the
TV. I expect Google and partners to try again and again, just as I expect Apple to try again and again. I believe Apple could pretty much get it right in one more incarnation (and I hope they do as my money is ready). Whether they choose to do so or not influences who has best shot at owning these kinds of functions in the living room. Will that be Apple? Will that be Google? Will that be someone else? I don't know and you don't either. But someone will get it right and that market is far bigger than iDevices & Macs as there is a whole planet full of people with TVs interested in cheap ways to put interesting entertainment on those TVs.
You can do that too with the Apple TV. It's a very nice feature. Browse the web with the iphone or iPad, come upon a video on a site, then just click the Airplay button and you're now watching that video on your big screen TV. If they are providing that video in HD, you get it in HD.
This works very well on the Apple TV. Airplay really is its killer feature.
The Black Box
The picture of the black apple tv box
1) Looks ominous in a cool way
2) First reminded me of the black monolith in the movie 2001 a space odessy
3) Or there may be a flight data recorder or voice recorder in "the black box"
The picture of the black apple tv box
1) Looks ominous in a cool way
2) First reminded me of the black monolith in the movie 2001 a space odessy
3) Or there may be a flight data recorder or voice recorder in "the black box"
Exactly, or Hulu Plus, or Plex Media Server or... you name it. I don't want touchscreen apps on my tv, I want media and apple's remote would do just fine for play pausing and browsing videos..
Dunno what the rules here on external links are, but I finally had enough of an opinion on the topic to write up a blog post on it.
http://justindaigle.com/blog/?p=453
If I'm not allowed to link to it here, mods feel free to remove this post.
It's basically about why the Apple TV will most likely be overtaken by an unlikely competitor in the coming months.
http://justindaigle.com/blog/?p=453
If I'm not allowed to link to it here, mods feel free to remove this post.
It's basically about why the Apple TV will most likely be overtaken by an unlikely competitor in the coming months.
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