Gene Munster Faces the Prospect of No Apple Television Set

[theluggage]

Seeing how they axed Front Row years ago with no transitional solution to what you described

Well - the Apple TV box is the solution.

The 27" iMac is ridiculously over-specced for a HTPC (a job that a Raspberry Pi could do if only it had better i/o) and neither 2650x1440 or 5k is the right resolution for a TV.

Yes, there's a niche of people for whom a combined desktop computer and TV makes sense but I doubt it's huge and its not as if the lack of Front Row means that you can't watch TV on your Mac. Plus, people are catching on to the idea of watching TV on phones and tablets, which is going to be hitting the demand for second & third TVs around the house, for students etc.

Note that Microsoft is dropping Windows Media Center with Windows 10, as well.

 

[phrehdd]

I can't imagine why Apple would consider wrapping around an ATV a complete TV monitor. While I personally refuse to own an ATV, I have plenty of friends who find it 'perfect' for their needs and way of life (ease of iTunes).

Apple, in my opinion, would be far better served to beef up the ATV since it has to compete with similar devices, various other types of devices (like Blue Ray players that also handle services) and of course smart TVs.

ATV, like Playstation do certain things particularly well but the makers insist on castrating these devices so you only deal with their offerings (though there are of course work arounds). Lucky for us this opens the door to other makers who can offer quite a bit more.

My television offers some smart services.
My TiVo offers some smart services.
My HTPC is set up with smart services.
My Oppo Blue Ray player has smart services.
etc.
I can get Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Vudu and yes, iTunes without really trying too hard. Last thing I need is another "must join our eco system" device such as a TV from Apple.

 

[SteveW928]

Plus, people are catching on to the idea of watching TV on phones and tablets, which is going to be hitting the demand for second & third TVs around the house, for students etc.

Hopefully, people start catching on to the idea of just not watching TV much at all anymore. Maybe stream a show now and then, but there are just much better things to spend one's life on.

(BTW, I used to be someone building MythTV boxes to try and record everything, and participated in attempts to create a system out of the Mac mini, etc.... but, we've not had 'TV' (or cable) for a few years now. Sometimes when I end up at someone else's home or where standard 'TV' is playing... I can almost hear the brain-cells screaming in agony as they atrophy.)

My point being, that I think so long as the Apple TV can stream some video - which it already can - it kind of does what it needs to do. It would be kind of silly, at this point in the game, to try to add a dying medium/technology to it and encumber it with a huge display. That would be going backwards, IMO.

What I would like to see is the addition of apps, especially so something like Plex could run and allow browsing the video library on the central computer, etc.

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I can't imagine why Apple would consider wrapping around an ATV a complete TV monitor. While I personally refuse to own an ATV, I have plenty of friends who find it 'perfect' for their needs and way of life (ease of iTunes).

Absolutely! It's the perfect little media-hub IMO. Less than 1 watt... able to stream anything I throw at it. Able to mirror/display anything from any of our iOS devices.

I can even use it with my iPad to give wireless Keynote presentations... if I can sneak it away from the family.

The only thing I'd like to see added to it, in reality, is to run 3rd party apps so I could use something like Plex. Being able to easily browse the main home media library is about it's only current shortcoming.

Plus, the ability to, say, add a couple controllers and play all sorts of games and such would be a sure home-run. It would be so easy for Apple to do... I'm guessing they are simply waiting for the right time on that one.

 

[urbanlung]

But...

Everyone seems to delight in dissing the guy on this but in fact this story proves him correct: Apple were developing a TV set. The fact that they chose at some point arbitrary point to stop doesn't invalidate the claim that this was an Apple project. Where one might criticize GM is on the lag time between Apple's decision and his being aware of the change.

 

[tdstom]

The Apple Mole

I think the question we really need to be asking is, who didn't update Munster that the TV project had been abandoned?

Or, in other words, who's left the company in the last 18 months, that now wasn't leaking him information.

Just a thought . . . .

 

[placidity44]

Why would Apple make a dedicated television set? It'd be extremely expensive, not able to mass manufacture many screen sizes as they have now, People wouldn't want to be upset when there's a revision each year, not to mention I can't imagine the margin on TV's is near as good as it is with iPhones, iPads, etc. With the Apple TV they already control the hardware and the software and it's a cheap cost of entry into Apple's ecosystem. It'd be good for people who have an existing apple product or even as a gateway streaming box. It'd lead people to get an iPhone to work with it etc. It already works with all existing HDMI TV's and costs 69 dollars which is a lot easier pill to swallow. An Apple TV set would be gorgeous though!

 

[MacGizmo]

Alternate headline:
Gene Munster faces prospect of having no reason to live.

 

[Traverse]

Seeing how they axed Front Row years ago with no transitional solution to what you described I believe we won't see that happen anytime soon if at all.

Ahh, Front Row. I failed to fully appreciate it before the OS X Lion upgrade. I would love to have that now.

 

[thekev]

I think the question we really need to be asking is, who didn't update Munster that the TV project had been abandoned?

Or, in other words, who's left the company in the last 18 months, that now wasn't leaking him information.

Just a thought . . . .

It isn't a very practical question. News of cancellation is also a leak, assuming either rumor was legitimate.

 

[Irishman]

Just making it up as he goes along.

By "we believe" Muenster means the voices in his head.

 

[thelookingglass]

I want Gene Munster's job -- get paid Wall Street cash money to basically be a rumor-news aggregation service and then also get to keep your job when you're dead wrong about a constantly predicted item.

That's pretty much an analyst's job description. Any analyst. Covering any industry. I mean, one could even say that's part of what's wrong with the finance industry in general. They get to pontificate to their heart's content but they put nothing on the line themselves.

 

[aaronvan]

New Apple augmented reality headset is coming soon!

Are those Beats?