The Problem with Apple TV

Forbes has a big article about Apple TV, Apple's computer-to-TV video streaming box, that the publication declares an "iFlop."

Apple TV may be an underperformer now, but it doesn't have to be.

As an avid Mac user who is ordinarily easily pulled into the Steve Jobs reality distortion field, let me tell you the problems with Apple TV:

1) Requires a flat screen TV

Most people still have standard televisions -- not the flat screen beauties. And for whatever reason, Apple TV doesn't play with regular televisions.

Flat screen TV prices may be falling, but that still doesn't mean that everyone has them. Apple seems to overlook the fact that it is the college crowd which made the iPod the most recognizable media player on the planet (after all, look around any college campus and all you'll see are white headphones). The catch is that for the early adopter, college crowd a flat screen TV of any size worth purchasing is still out of reach. $300 bucks for a top-of-the-line iPod? Sure. But $2,000 for a TV? No way.

Limited early adopter pool = no momentum.

2) Poor quality

For those that can afford a flat screen TV there's a reason that they bought one -- because the picture looks amazing. How does the Apple TV look? Well, not so good. Go into an Apple Store and even the demo doesn't look compelling (and the TVs they are using for the demos aren't even that big). That's because Apple's iTunes store doesn't sell any high definition content. The video you get on iTunes looks great on an iPod, acceptable on your laptop, and downright mediocre-to-poor when blown up on a large TV.

The content quality hasn't caught up with the technological capabilities Apple TV appears to be presenting. The result is a sub-par, very un-Apple-like experience.

3) It's not a TiVo

Apple TV has a hard drive in it. What do we want to do with a hard drive connected to our television? Use it a digital video recorder (DVR) a.k.a. TiVo, of course.

Apple TV has zero, zip, nada TiVo-like capabilities. It is a svelte box for streaming the content you have in your iTunes library (video/music) to your TV and that's about it. (True, it can access movie trailers online, and display your digital photos but these features aren't going to make you run out and buy an Apple TV).

4) It's too expensive

The problem is Apple TV does so little (stream content from your computer to your television) for such a big price. [The price is "big" because the Apple TV content doesn't look spectacular, it doesn't satisfy those other "needs" we all have -- it's not a TiVo, it is not a DVD recorder, it's not a video game player -- and it will require most people to buy a flat screen TV if they want the Apple TV experience].

The Forbes article says that the components of Apple TV cost $237. On a $300 product, that doesn't leave a lot of room for profit. So it is true that the company isn't making much off these things, but that offers minor consolation for the consumer.

Solutions

Apple TV needs to be overhauled and replaced with "Apple TV 2" (for lack of a better term). Here's what Apple TV 2 should offer:

• Works with all TVs, not just the new flat screens (make Apple TV an option for all who are interested in it)
• DVR capabilities (enabled by a bigger hard drive) -- this would truly lay the groundwork for tearing down the barriers between our TVs, DVDs and downloaded content
  
• Ability to stream DVR'd content back to your PC so you can "save it" by burning it to a DVD
• Ability to transfer television content saved on your Apple TV 2's DVR to your iPhone, iPod Touch or notebook computer so you can watch your shows on the go
• Same $300 price tag
  

If Apple gives us this (and any other whiz-bang ideas that Apple can dream up like no other) then Apple TV will be a success. Whether we get there or not is simply a matter of whether or not the company believes in the product.

Apple TV right now is half a product. Here's one customer who hopes Steve Jobs and Co. will make it a whole.

The Raffi Playlists Only Rule

Fond du Lac Reporter has an article about the influence of music lyrics on kids and how one middle school is handling CD players and iPods.

According to the article:

...students must follow rules when they bring their iPods or CD players on campus this fall. Students may bring their players but must not listen to explicit music.

A $250 iPod will put 7,500 songs in your pocket. Yeah, this policy is going to work...

Stop right there, Billy! Show me your iPod. Don't you dare hit shuffle!

iPod's Fifth Birthday

As anyone who has been in a major (or even not-so-major) city lately can attest, iPods and Razr phones are ubiquitous.

What a lot of the late arrivals to the iPod phenomenon don't realize is that the iPod as a product line is now five years old.

Yep, that streamlined, super bright screen, holds all your music, photos, TV shows and movies wonder pod had a slightly more humble beginning as a 5 GB, black-and-white screened music device.

Sure, the original iPod is nowhere near as insanely great as its current generation siblings, but speaking as someone whose only iPod is the original iPod, it is still a remarkable device. All of the basic controls and industry leading software integration was there from the start, and in that way, the iPod has changed very, very little (and that's a good thing).

So, in honor of the iPod's fifth birthday, here the introduction video of the iPod from its launch in October 2001.

If the oldest iPod you can picture is the iPod mini, watch the video and take a trip through history. (And remember when you are watching the video that when the iPod came out the only MP3 players anyone had ever heard of were small 512 MB units with miniature buttons and clunky interfaces that required patience, determination and luck to operate).

Sure the original is a little bit more festively plump than today's version, but it is still an icon.

Happy Birthday iPod!



(Oh, and another thing that hasn't changed since 2001 -- Smash Mouth's "All Star" was overplayed even way back then too).

UPDATE: Kevin Maney points out that Wired has the story of the iPod's origin on their site.

UPDATE #2: Playlist's iPod blog has a great selection of quotes/reaction from the original iPod's unveiling. Some favorites:

One of the “Top Five Worst Tech Gifts” to get for Christmas in 2001—TechTarget

“I think the iPod will be another one of Apple’s failures just like the Newton. It’s only for the Mac; not a lot of the MP3 world uses Macs, compared with PCs. It costs $400; you can get so many other players that work well for much less. Apple could have done more-innovative things with an MP3 player than just make it look cool and give it some fast features.”—Letter to the editor, April 2002 issue of Macworld

“If Apple ever lowers the iPod’s price and develops Windows software for it, watch out: the invasion of the iPod people will surely begin in earnest.”—David Pogue, New York Times

Don't look now, but I'm pretty sure we're living in the world envisioned by Pogue.