There’s been some recent discussion about Apple TV possible becoming as large of a factor in the video industry as the iPod has been in the music industry.
AppleInsider | Apple TV said to be worthy of overtaking both TiVo and Netflix:
Although AppleTV has ceded the limelight to iPhone and similarly been overshadowed by the buzz preceding the launch of Leopard, it could prove to be as disruptive to legacy video purchase-and-consumption behavior as the iPod has been to traditional music business model, one Wall Street analyst says
I agree it could be big…very big.
When looking at the specifications of the Apple TV device alone it’s not all that impressive. However, the real power of Apple TV will be that it will be a user friendly link in an already successfully established service. It will connect the living room and the family HDTV with computer, Internet and iTunes video services.
This will be the first fully integrated video delivery to the family living room. While there will probably be some initial problems that will have to be sorted out, Apple, if true to it’s normal design principles, will make it a simple elegant solution.
With the recent release of QuickTime v7.1.5 Apple has added an option to convert video to Apple TV format (see screenshot below). Apple’s consumer iLife products will probably also see further integration with Apple TV to give the consumer a full and rich digital computer/TV environment.
I’ve an Apple TV on order and I look forward to seeing how it performs. My card was charged last week and according to the on-line order information it should ship tomorrow and be delivered by the 26th. We’ll see.
UPDATE 03/20/07: I received an email and FEDEX tracking number stating that my Apple TV shipped today and will be delivered by the 23rd of March.
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