As an Apple fanatic and owner of TSP, I am lucky enough to be in a position to try out Apple's latest gadgets as soon as they come out. The latest one is the Apple TV (sorry, no iPhone yet).
Shipped in spring of this year, I've been playing with the Apple TV for quite a few months and I'd have to say that it's an incredible box - not really because of what it does, but what it has the potential to do.
When Apple released the iPod just a few years ago, very few people - Apple fanatics included - predicted that it would change not only the consumer electronics industry but also music as well. Without seeing the entire iPod/iTunes ecosystem, it just didn't seem to be significant.
The secret to the iPod was that it was a very key piece in the delivery of music from content creators to the consumer. What it did - and very well - was connect the end user (music listeners) with files on their computer (MP3s).
That connection alone - music listeners to MP3s - isn't significant. However, with iTunes, Apple changed that. Suddenly, you had a connection between your music library (your CDs) and files on your computer (MP3s). Apple connected a user's entire music library to the end user and made it easy. The iPod became 10 times more useful, maybe 100 times depending on the size of your CD connection.
Next step: the iTunes music store. Now the connection extended far outside of your music library into the vast expanse of the entire industry. Suddenly, the iPod connected not only you to your music library, but essentially most significant pieces of published music on the planet. The iPod became 1,000 times, maybe 10,000 times more useful than the day you opened the box.
And it all started with that simple device - the iPod. A device that people thought was "ho hum" when it was released.
[As a side note, frame the "new" features of the Zune with this development of the iPod. What does WiFi sharing of songs - for a limited number of times - bring to this equation? 1.01 times more useful?]
Apple TV is just the same type of device. Right now, it seems like all that the Apple TV is good for is to take your iTunes videos and audio and put them on the Apple TV so you can view them at home on your TV. It feels like the early days of the iPod.
Even so, it's quite handy. If you're a serial-TV viewer like me, with an Apple TV, you don't need cable anymore. In fact, I don't have cable in our new flat in London.
[You can thank my Tivo for that. I stopped wandering through channels around 4 years ago. Now, I only watch shows that I care about.]
I download shows that I want to see from iTunes (subscribing to Season Passes at $40 or less a shot, which give me an entire season of shows like "Heroes"). Compared to the cost of $.99 songs on iTunes, that may sound like a lot. But compared to my old DirecTV and Comcast bills - I could order a new season pass every month and have 12 entire seasons of shows - from "24" to "Ugly Betty" to "Heroes" by the end of the year - and still have money left over.
Even so, my wife asks me the same questions that people would ask me when I first got an iPod: "What's so cool about something that allows you to take stuff off of your computer and see/hear it on another device?" Sure there's some benefits, but $279? "I don't get it," she says.
And she's right. Just like Apple sold a few hundred thousand iPods in the first year of production, the Apple TV starts with the same "ho-hum" question. All the Apple TV does is connect the end user (TV watchers) with files on their computer (M4V files).
But if you've learned anything from this post, it won't stop there. Today, Apple just announced... YouTube on Apple TV in June.
Suddenly, the world of Apple TV starts to expand. Like iTunes, bringing YouTube directly to the Apple TV makes it 10 times more useful, maybe 100 times if you're already spending hours on YouTube looking through all the crazy stuff out there.
What's next? Start connecting all sources of video out there (remember, it's Quicktime in the Apple TV) and suddenly I've got the handiest video viewer in the world. RSS feeds, Security Cameras at my office (we have 3 running Quicktime-compatible feeds), Video Blogs, you name it. Now, it's definitely 100 times more useful than it was the day that I bought it, because if that were ever to happen, I could define where it gets its content.
Next? Just enter my Apple ID and password into the Apple TV and give me access to the iTunes movie and TV show library directly on the Apple TV. Anyone that has an Apple TV will show you the real-time movie trailers. With my $10/month 8Mbit ADSL in the UK (sorry American brethren) - heck, it's real-time movies. Suddenly, it's 1,000 times more useful - and it has created a "one-click" revenue stream in the process.
Goodbye Cable, Netflix, BT's Vision, and PS 3 VOD. Sorry, I don't you need you. I have what's important to me - my shows. movies on demand. everyone else's crazy crap. and my stuff. (I'll use my Freeview Digital tuner for news and weather)
Who cares about the lack of recording? The new ecosystem for video delivery is already there - it's called the internet and it's going to kick the ass of every broadcaster, cable company, and set-top manufacturer out there.
The bad news? There's just so much competition on in this space already. The iPod gained traction as Mac fanatic's toy for a couple years before going "big." Apple simply doesn't have that luxury this time around.
One final thought: what platform is the computer of choice for music and video production? The Mac. Apple has closed the loop with YouTube. Now you can publish your iMovies or Final Cut Projects on YouTube and someone across the world can watch your movies on their Apple TV. That's the one thing missing from the iPod...
Will that make it 10,000 times? Only time will tell.
