Is the Apple TV officially a flop? (Or: How to fix Apple TV)
Compared to the iPod and iPhone, the Apple TV's gotten a tepid response.
(Credit: CNET)It's been online for a few days now, but I just spotted (via PaidContent) Forbes' article titled The iFlop (subhead: "Steve Jobs tried to design--and dictate--the future of television. Here's how he failed.") Author Scott Woolley calls the Apple TV "a flat-out" failure, claiming that it's sold less than 250,000 units in six months. Among the supposed sins of the product: the lack of a built-in DVR and a "parochial and proprietary approach" to online video content. He also highlights a variety of on-demand video competitors, including Vudu, TiVo (via Amazon Unbox), and Xbox 360 (which offers rentals and sales of TV shows via the Xbox Live Marketplace)--while glossing over many of their shortcomings. Still, is he right? Is the Apple TV dead in the water?
When I reviewed the Apple TV in March, I gave it a "very good," thanks mostly to its dead-simple setup and easy usability--traits rarely seen in the network media space. (The aforementioned Vudu box and Sling Media's Slingbox products are two notable exceptions.) But the positive slant was within the context of the Apple TV's purported mission statement: to deliver iTunes content to your TV. I assumed that frequent firmware updates would add additional features and functionality, but the only improvement so far has been the addition of YouTube videos. Nice, but not exactly a game changer. (The company also introduced a second model with a much larger, 160GB hard drive, for $100 more.)
So while Woolley's "iFlop" description is something of a hyperbole, the essence does ring true: the Apple TV doesn't have the "gotta have it" appeal of the iPod. In its current configuration, I certainly wouldn't spend money to buy one. What would it take to change that? I can think of quite a few suggestions:
- Better video quality: Movies and TV shows sold on the iTunes Store are optimized for the small screens of the iPod and iPhone. Blow them up on a big screen, and they look plain awful. Apple's trying to keep down the file sizes to minimize download time and maximize the memory capacity of its increasingly flash-based iPod line. Microsoft and Vudu are offering videos with far better quality (DVD to HD, often with surround sound). Apple needs to follow suit--especially considering that the Apple TV is designed to connect high-definition sets.
- On-screen iTunes Store access: As of this month, the iTunes Store is available directly through iPod Touch and iPhone models (albeit for music only). But Apple TV purchases still need to be done on a networked computer, then streamed to the unit. An on-screen version of the iTunes Store would be a much more convenient and intuitive experience. Until then, Vudu, Xbox, and TiVo have an edge.
- A rental option: TV shows for $2 isn't bad, but paying DVD prices for movies with sub-par video and audio quality is a tough sell. A rental program would be a nice alternative (again: Vudu, Xbox, and TiVo already offer this). Rumors of just such an offering have intensified over the past few weeks. An expanded version of Apple's Multi-Pass would be great for TV shows, as would the ability to rent a movie for a couple bucks. Of course, we'd really love a flat-fee Rhapsody/Netflix-style subscription--but don't keep your fingers crossed.
- Expanded file compatibility: Apple TV is pretty much limited to streaming what you can see or hear in iTunes, but plenty of people have other videos on their hard drive--DivX, XviD, AVI, WMV, and the like. Other digital media adapters have no trouble with these formats, and we're sure the Apple TV has the processing horsepower to handle them, too. Ideally, adding more robust file compatibility to the unit--and to iTunes--would be the best solution. At the very least, Apple should bundle a free version of QuickTime Pro, so you can more easily convert videos into an iTunes-friendly format.
- Internet radio support: This one sounds minor, but it's just another one of those little annoyances: Apple supports Internet radio within iTunes, but not on Apple TV. With such a wide variety of stations and formats available from all corners of the globe, having access to those streams in the living room would just be a nice little feather in the Apple TV's cap.
There are at least a dozen others I could add, of course, but I'm trying to keep the suggestions within the realm of reality: opening the box to third-party developers, adding an IPTV service, and (especially) turning the thing into a DVR just really isn't in the cards. Also, I wanted to focus on ones that Apple could theoretically add to the existing hardware via software, firmware, and infrastructure (iTunes Store) updates. Everything listed above sounds eminently doable--so here's hoping Apple does it.
What do you think? Are you satisfied with Apple TV as is? Do you have your own suggestions for improvement? Or should Apple just go for broke with Apple TV 2.0?
John P. Falcone covers home theater and network entertainment products. He's been writing for CNET since 2002.
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had more HD content, but all I the stuff I watch is from the Apple TV. I don't
have a DVR, but I am able to watch what I want when I want.
For its shortcomings mentioned in the article above, there's several advantages. The biggest is that it's a great "last six feet" device for those of us with luddite friends and loved ones, who don't want to watch a cinematic movie on a dinky little iPod screen when they've shelled out $3000 on an HDTV and home theater setup. Sure, there are other devices that can do the same thing, but Apple TV does it with style and simplicity--the same thing that turned the iPod into one of the icons of this decade. My wife is far more tolerant of adding one more remote to our collection when it's the size of an hors d'ovre and has only five buttons, as opposed to yet another thirty-plus button behemoth that looks confusingly similar to the cable box remote, the TV remote, the DVD player remote, and audio receiver remote, all of which already look confusingly like each other. Apple TV cuts through the intimidation factor of technology so that our Earthling friends can join us.
I do grant that lack of file format support is a substantial drawback. But, if it only supports a few file formats, at least it's supporting the right ones. It handles jpeg and mp3, so pictures and music are covered by the de-facto standards. (Yes, photographers will gripe that jpegs are lossy, and yes, you can point out how superior this or that other file format may be, but really, how many of you own an ogg vorbis player in your car?) In terms of video files, m4v looks to be winning the unspoken format war between it and divx--and, perhaps, Xvid.
Yes, an unspoken format war, and one that has garnered almost no attention. If Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD is Iraq, then Windows-friendly divx and iTunes-friendly m4v is Darfur. But, I digress.
m4v looks to be winning the unsung format war, not because it is better or worse than divx, but because you can play it on an iPod. Not that most of us do for very long (Great for watching "The Daily Show" or "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," but not the best way for watching the cinematic season finale of "Battlestar Galactica."), but because we can. This nudges it towards the top of the list of well-supported compressed video formats. (And, let's face it, not too many of us want to stuff our hard drives with 4 Gig standard def and 20 Gig high def movies.)
That, and iTunes TV shows are actually pretty respectably priced. For two bucks, you can own a copy of, say, an episode of the original Star Trek. That's two bucks. The file doesn't self-destruct the following day after viewing it. Movies are a bit more, but $10 for a lifetime versus $4 just to see once, and iTunes starts to look like a bit of a bargain. The sheer size and ubiquity of iTunes also helps to ensure that we don't fall victim to the same fate as the Google Video DRM problem.
So, with support for the formats that I actually use, and with compatibility with my low-tech friends and relatives, I'm rather fond of Apple TV myself. And so, I join the cult.
I mean... seriously? You dish out the 380 euros [http://500 bucks, app.|http://500 bucks, app.] you´re charged here for something which doesn´t work propperly, looks like a danish butter cookies tin with a seriously cheesy and "oh-so-ninties" glowing light on top?
The thing is that the problem of the apple TV is that one of being the gadget that nobody needs.
Not even remotely.
and it is soooooooooo utterly superficial and with no advantages over plugging a regular cheap computer to your tv.
Seriously.
There is no cult upon this device. It is a sort of a segway. If you buy it to pretend to be cool, right. Or just because you like it. No problem. You´ve got all the right to do so.
But, and this is just my opinion, I am fed up with the superficial simplicity of the apple products, which are everything but simple.
You have to digg into menus, submenus, sub-submenus, sub-sub-submenus to even change the channel, when a simple button will solve it. Moreover, you have to know where the things are and learn where to look for them. Which, oh, surprise, happens to happen in every single device you buy.
So, in a nutshell. It is pretenciously cool, which is worse than being ugly. It does not offer good quality for what it is meant to, primarily, whatch stuff in a reasonably big screen. Doesn´t substitute any other device in your home stereo [which a regular pc will, as long as you take away the DVD player because you have one built in]. It is complicate to use.
Not right.
Not even remotely.
(well).
#2 It's not a DVR. Not even as an option (see #1).
If Apple wants to save it they need to turn it into a set-top iPod touch. Not in
it's interface, obviously, but in how you use it. It's not driving people to buy
Macs, so start allowing it stand on its own (four) feet. Give it iTunes to buy
movies and music. Give it a DVR, so it's not seen as a one-trick pony. Add a
DVD reader (read-only) so it becomes the center of your home entertainment
system. (But no DVR recording off the DVDs.)
Either/Or choices: Big or Small drives? Small might drive you to buy a new
computer. Large will encourage you to buy lots of stuff from iTunes. Or add
a Firewire 400/800 port (only options) for external drives. A proprietary port
will only last a couple weeks and the FW ensures Apple some royalties from
3d party sales.
Give it Safari and Apple Mail? People who only want a computer for surfing
and mail are buying $400 eMachines at BJ's, not PowerMacs or iMacs. But
giving it Internet will allow them to download from Amazon, et al, so it's a bit
of a risk. If the new Safari is the best thing since sliced bread, they'll either
put a dent in IE's ability to use proprietary formats or move people to Macs.
miniTV? Neither model has set the world on fire. So take a $700 mini and a
$300 AppleTV, and make an $800 combo. I doubt they sell any $600 Cinema
displays to go with their $700 computers, so make it work with LCD TVs (and
HDTV). Sell a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for 50 bucks, and it becomes a
coffee table computer and entertainment center. Since most cable systems
require a box for digital and HD, skip the tuner but have a cable input. And
for the killer "Wow!" factor, bring back the iCam. Stick that sucker on top of
your big screen, and start having full screen iChats with Grandma! All by
itself, adding iChat to AppleTV this will double the sales.
If they make the right improvements to actually cause people to buy it,
replace it with a "new" line; like it should have been to start - but luckily
wasn't:
iTV.
believe it was merely created as a part of a package that was used to
convince the likes of Universal Studios into licensing their content to Apple.
"If you sign with us, we have this secure little device called AppleTV that will
be used to deliver your content safely."
I believe the main revenue game for Apple is owning the content delivery
rights to as many, or indeed all, of the Big Players. And AppleTV was a part of
that delivery strategy. If they can on-sell a billion songs or movies without
having to turn a screw, that sure beats building all these little white and silver
boxes.
That AppleTV has been unsuccessful may not actually matter. They now have
the Big Players on board so they can play the game their own way.
Just my 2 Cents.
http://hd.appletvsource.com
HD or HD quality, to my tv, I would be sold.
WIth a wireless keyboard and mouse, I could have a virtual laptop in front of my
bigscreen or any other tv in the house.
I don't need discreet DVR capability. That duty is in the hands of a stand alone
device in the entertainment center.
That's a device has a lot of possibilities.
That's what I was going to get, then I decided to splurge and get a MacBook. That's what I use for my media center.
play one, then select another, etc. This is a real pain and should be fixed!
I know there are superior products to apple TV, or you can hook up a computer to your TV, (who wants to do that?) but none are so simple to use with such a simple remote. It's the first tech gadget that my wife has ever used... I have tried many.
Recently I have been getting into photography, the apple TV is the simplest way of looking at our pictures in pretty decent quality, we just leave the scrolling slide show in the background all the time.
This thing is great if you have kids. I don't watch movies on the apple TV, but if you have kids and are short on time, I highly recommend this. $1.99 for Itune cartoons that they watch over and over can't be beat... again, so easy to download and sync. My 3 year old has never said "Dad, I can't watch this because it isn't HD or DVD quality"...
But it was released to feature-poor given that it was released when it was. It's made to pair to an HDTV and it doesn't play HD media? It's not even dvd quality media!
Just plain stupid! The target market at this point is the tech-savvy consumer. That person does not want to pay money for a device with LOWER quality than what they already have. For $300 they can get an HD movie player which is far and away better quality, or a VuDu type player that is also better.
If Apple is going to keep AppleTV from being another Newton--great idea, too early--then they need to make the suggestions in this article, espeically HD content.
Kudos to Apple on this failure!
The studios won't allow HD downloads until Apple agrees to the studios' pricing schemes...
Jobs is playing like it's no big deal--"just a hobby"...
From their point of view, the studios think the music companies were idiots to allow Apple in the drivers seat and they're not going to make the same mistake.
As soon as one side or the other blinks, the AppleTV will be placed back in the spotlight. It's a game being played at the CEO level.
- I like it, but would love the upgrades suggested
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by Desdichado
October 2, 2007 2:45 PM PDT
- I like my AppleTV and we use it all the time for music and tv shows. Movies is not something I have used it for primarily because of the lack of space, the bad wireless streaming at 802.11g and the quality of the movies. Sadly, we use our XBOX360s video marketplace and dvd player more for movie watching. If Apple can make movies HD quality with surround sound it will go a long way in increasing the purchases from us. Giving iTunes the ability to rip DVDs like it rips CDs would also help tremendously. Right now, we use Handbrake which works well, but is not the integrated solution we would prefer.
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