First World Problems; To Chromecast or Not To Chromecast.
Talk about First World Problems.
I've no doubt it'll sell like hotcakes because of its price and getting a limited amount of Netflix for free, but really, prerequisites are an HDTV AND a smartphone/tablet/laptop, and is aimed at pushing pricey subscription services like Netflix and whatever Google has up its sleeve, apart from ad revenue. These days, most people in America have the TV and Smartphone/Tablet, and a large proportion of the rest of the Western world does too, and in America they are used to being locked into expensive cable subscriptions as a necessity, so these online services actually sound like you can save money if you can be a "Cable cutter". Thankfully cable TV is not as entrenched here in Australia, although lots of ppl choose it for sports etc, but the online services aren't really established here yet; I don't know if Netflix has made it here yet, but on the whole, I am yet to justify the cost of any subscription service and hence the value of an Apple TV or even a Chromecast, when it does get here.
Sweeteners like the first few months free for subscription services don't impress me, because like the tasters drug dealers give out, they are designed to get you hooked into a habit you can't really afford. Rental movies through the Apple store is too expensive in comparison to the Hoyts movie vending machines which are everywhere in shopping centres and outside supermarkets, and frankly BitTorrent is cheaper still. If it wasn't for an inheritance and the over-generosity of my father at birthdays, my fiancée and I wouldn't even have the prerequisite HDTV or smartphones. I do feel privileged and spoilt in that regard in that many don't have parents with means, even if it is on the back of tragedy. So really, it all sounds a little funny to me when people talk about the $35 cost versus the $99 price of an Apple TV. For now, I don't need Youtube on my TV, but if I do, the "smart" TV has it built in, though the app sucks, and better yet, the Youtube app on my iphone can send the video to the TV.
If Apple does come out with an App Store for Apple TV, and allow your existing iOS purchases to install on it too, then it will get interesting to me. Provide affordable rental movies at $2-3 dollars, and start supporting more than MP4 files. Presumably media players will build in support for Chromecast so you can send any movie to your TV, which will be irresistible to many. So come on Apple; Smell the roses. Plex serves me well for now without either gadget.
Bill Gates was right in fearing Google as the company to be a threat to their business and eat their lunch. Their Orwellian dream of Windows Everywhere never eventuated, thwarted first by Apple and now Google, and it seems it might be supplanted by Google's own Orwellian ambitions of Android/Chrome Everywhere, all with Google Ads. Do No Evil indeed. The battle for the livingroom and couchpotato dollars is fascinating.
