tv?

[Clint Wardlow]

[Gary Huff] “Let’s also not begin to give Apple “superhuman” corporation powers. They can easily fall as flat on their face as anyone else. If Apple does wade into the TV ocean, it doesn’t mean they are going to automatically rule the market.”

I was joking.

[Dustin Parsons]

[Gary Huff] “Right now, you can walk into your Best Buy and purchase any number of sizes and technologies (LCD/Plasma/LED) and features (3D, 240Hz, ect). and buy a $99 Apple TV to have that interface if you so desire.”

That’s the problem. Just like I’ve never bought a Mac monitor because other companies make them just as good, at a lower price point, with a very similar minimalistic design, I think it’s going to be difficult to convince people to throw out their existing TVs and buy a new one when they can just pick up the $99 Apple TV now and have the exact same experience. The only way a dedicated Apple TV will work is if they discontinue the standalone $99 unit and use their interface as a selling point for the TV, other than that I can’t see it working.

[Bret Williams]

Siri. FaceTime. I’m guessing some sort of channel management. Integrating channels and internet channels as one concept. So, none of the whole apple TV stuff of hdmi 3 and cable on hdmi 2 and dvd player on hdmi 1, etc. A more unified experience. How about watching a show and having links to hulu or iTunes versions right on the screen? I dunno. Stuff like that. There’s really so much.

[Bret Williams]

Well jeez. What a pessimist. If you’ve got to buy a TV, it might as well be a better TV. I don’t buy Sony’s because they’re overpriced and the interface sucks. Vizio’s are better overall I find, and the interface is better, but the interface still sucks. I have a 42″ Vizio. I also have 2 12″ tube TVs (bedroom and porch), a 27″ tube TV, living room, a 20″ tube TV, guest bedroom. Am looking for a bedroom LCD and a new living room TV as soon as we get rid of the built in 80s TV cabinet that can’t hold much more than a 27″ tube set. So, I’ve got TVs to buy in the future. And the LCDs don’t really last that long. I have a 24″ Vizio in the edit room that is losing some umph already after 2 years.

I love my standalone appleTV box. But it’s probably only 20% of the user experience we’ll get from a branded TV.

[Jeremy Garchow]

I don’t see them making a tv, but I do see them making a 27″ thunderbolt monitor that will support 4k+ resolution and it will marketed directly to professionals, just like the Retina MBP is today.

It will need a decent GPU system to drive it, or perhaps Apple will incorporate a GPU on the monitor itself and allow them to launch a small, light, yet still very powerful “MacPro” machine.

The size of the rMBP screen actually went down while the resolution went up.

[Bret Williams]

I think Apple has proven that they can compete price wise. The iPad and iPhone may not be the cheapest, but they’re not much more than the competition feature wise, and when you factor in the build quality and interface design people don’t usually go back.

[Bill Davis]

[tony west] “Their “consumer” products seem to be all over the sets I’m working on these days.

I’m not rushing out to buy a pc anytime soon.

I think apple is setting themselves up to push into my work place (and home) even more in the future than they are now.

I might as well be ready for it.”

I just think good technology wins.

The iPad is stunningly good technology. It’s transforming all sorts of things.

I read yesterday that the San Diego Unified School District just completed the purchase of 26,000 iPads for their students Those will replace paper textbooks in all or parts of grades 6,7, and 8.

My corporate clients are all going there. One health care company I produce for gave all their 100+ sales reps iPads 6 months ago – and the CEO happily noted to me that his workforce would essentially “train themselves” to use it – something they’ve had to pay significant money for with all previous tech.

This stuff takes time to mature and propagate, but in the case of the iPhone and iPad, this has been a huge shift and the adoption pace is accelerating fast.

I think the old “pro” vs “consumer” divide is kinda silly in the modern era.

Consumers and pros have one central reality in common – they’re people.

And the iPad is soaring because virtually every person who uses one – likes the experience.

Nothing more or less than that.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Andrew Kimery]

I think Apple TV, whatever it may be in the future, has a much tougher road ahead of it than any of Apple’s other products.

First, the HDTV / Home theater market doesn’t seem to be sitting on its butt and slowly upgrading like other tech sometimes does. I mean, the push for 3D in the home that started a few years ago and that’s not really going gang busters so this past CES multiple companies were showing off 4k TVs that look less like prototypes and more like ready for the showroom. It’s also common for TVs now to be Internet ready and come with apps for everything from Netflix to Pandora to Facebook (sub-$100 blu-ray players do this too). Some TVs are also already coming w/voice control, gesture & facial recognition and gaming services like OnLive and Gaikai that allow you to play PC and console games in the cloud via your TV (plus a controller of course).

Second, there’s content. Content is king and w/o an impressive lineup of exclusive content I don’t think Apple TV can break out from the pack. And right now, with things like HBO GO, NHL Game Center, Netflix, etc., the trend is for content providers to get their ‘channel apps’ on as many devices as possible.

Third, have you seen what the PS3, 360 and, to a lesser extent, the Wii / WiiU have to offer in terms of being home media centers & streaming devices? Microsoft has even made deals with traditional TV distributors like Comcast and Verizon to make some of their content available on Xbox Live as well as a deal w/AT&T to pipe their content directly through the 360 instead of using AT&Ts cable box. Not to mention Microsoft’s SmartGlass that they showed at E3 this year. It’s basically a feature that will allow AirPlay-like functionality (and much more) between a 360 and Android, iOS & Windows 8 mobile devices.

Lastly, the raging success of the iDevices is in part built on a large portion of the user base upgrading every 12-24 months. I just don’t see that happening with TVs (especially large, this-is-nearly-eating-my-living-room sized TVs). If a cornerstone of the future Apple TV is being a key part of the Apple ecosystem they are going to have to give it much longer legs than an iPad or iPhone. I mean, the original iPad, a device barely over 2yrs old, isn’t even qualified to run i0S 6 (and the iPad 2 only gets limited support of iOS 6). People just don’t cycle through TVs like they do cell phones or even computers (not yet at least).

I’m not saying Apple TV will never break out of hobby status, as Apple likes to call it, but I think it is going to be a big up hill climb. Of course, Apple’s secret weapon is usually taking existing things and stream lining the user experience so we’ll have to wait and see if that will be enough this time around.

[Walter Soyka]

[Bill Davis] “I think the old “pro” vs “consumer” divide is kinda silly in the modern era. Consumers and pros have one central reality in common – they’re people. And the iPad is soaring because virtually every person who uses one – likes the experience.”

Which is why I think Craig nailed it when he described Apple’s product design using the word “personal.”

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Gary Huff]

[Clint Wardlow] “I was joking.”

Sorry, I wasn’t referring to your post specifically, just pointing out something to buttress your point.