Comments on: The Apple TV Has Been Quietly Killed, Hasn’t It?

By: eagle1

eagle1 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

All I can say is I enjoy my 2 Apple TV’s. The seamless operation between my iMac, iPad, iTouch and iPhone is awesome. Steaming photos and music from my iMac is great. Watching Netflix and renting movies from iTunes is simple and I have never had a problem with the picture or sound. As long as you have a quality wireless network it runs great. AirPlay is also a feature I really enjoy. You can watch a Utube video n your iPhone and immediately share it on your flat screen for all to see and hear. So it is my hope they don’t kill it!

By: eagle1

eagle1 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

By: eagle1

eagle1 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

By: eagle1

eagle1 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

By: eagle1

eagle1 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

By: seo service provider

seo service provider — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:56:00 +0000

looks quiet interesting..!!!

By: Shellemu

Shellemu — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:19:00 +0000

Rumor is…. there’s a software update that came out today for AppleTV (4.4.4)

By: Panjshirlion

Panjshirlion — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:55:00 +0000

Then grow a brain and look at an article that talks about specs and functionality

By: Simon Cohen

Simon Cohen — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:28:00 +0000

Yes, a very limited $99 streamer. Plex is pretty impressive. As is XBMC.

By: Nathf1980

Nathf1980 — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:21:00 +0000

i came on here to see if this product was worth buying as a present for my girlfriend, after reading the article and relating comments i am none the wiser other than im damm happy i wast born a geek, boy are you guys boring

By: MikeInDetroit

MikeInDetroit — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:10:00 +0000

You have it backward. Sorry.
Apple is most definitely NOT a software company. That’s its strength.
Apple is a hardware company. So, instead of creating a combination Mac/iPad that can do both they create two…. the iPad is the laptop version of the iPhone.
Apple revenues are largely tied to its hardware and, to generate additional hardware sales it must provide new products or improved products.
The vast majority of software on the App Store is free. Apple supports free software because the more you use the more you’ll need more powerful devices and next years version certainly will be more powerful.
Apple controls software so that it can expand it’s features and apply them to all devices. So by using the same iOS on all device when they add Siri it’s available to all devices immediately.
Apple, unlike MicroSoft and Google, is a hardware not software company. This allows them to give software away for free because they are financed by the hardware.
Since consumer decisions are currently influenced by software availability the capability of Apple to provide this at no cost is a big advantage. Presumably this is why Google bought Motorola Mobile.
So, I’m sorry to say Apple is NOT a software but a hardware company. All its decisions can be traced back to that.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:27:00 +0000

Why would Apple produce a TV in the first place…unless they own the assembly factory and another one which produces the displays. Even so, they would have to beat Samsung in the display business. I’m sure they could accomplish that task in another 5-10 years but what’s the point?

They should instead concentrate on what they do best, which is produce great software that companies like Google can insist that they had before Apple came to market. How else would a company like Google grow beyond the search engine?

Seriously, the Apple TV box is pretty good (but it does need an update) and, if they put some real effort into it, could be spectacularly great without requiring the purchase of an Apple display at all. TVs and TV displays are a commodity like toilet paper. Others already make it. Why waste the effort and the capital?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000

Or don’t jailbreak it, don’t install Plex, and you still have a wireless HD $99 media streamer.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:56:00 +0000

Spoken like a true Apple fanboy!

“Consumers hoping to get a set-top box to connect to their televisions will need to buy last year’s model” – no, there are competing products out there.
“I’m already planning to buy the Apple television” – I don’t know what it is, what it does, what it costs or if I need it, but it has that Apple logo on it, so I will buy it.

By: Bryan Miller

Bryan Miller — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:10:00 +0000

I hope they keep apple tv as a set top box, I won’t ever be able to afford a multi thousand dollar actual tv made by apple

and I’d rather buy cheaper set top boxes that I can have like 4 of them to connect up to all the tis in the house instead of buying only one tv made by apple

they should just make an Apple Tv 3 set top box that adds a SD card slot for storage and adds the iTunes app store, and it could still be only a $99 device, then add an app that makes an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad act as a game controller, they could even make a real console style controller

By: Yes

Yes — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:45:00 +0000

Jailbreak it, install Plex, and you have a wireless HD (720p) $99 media streamer. Marvellous :)

By: Zakzak+slashgear

Zakzak+slashgear — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:37:00 +0000

I love my $99 Apple TV – it has been great for movie rentals, TV show purchases, and for all of those DVD’s I’ve used Handbrake to pull into my iTunes library. I’m not itching for something new that does more from Apple (alright well, 1080p might be nice, but that’s all). If they don’t update the $99 box for another whole year, I’m fine with that.

By: MikeInDetroit

MikeInDetroit — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:12:00 +0000

Apple-TV was always stop-gap. Apple’s strategy of improvement and expansion relies on careful control over variations in the iOS-device mix to eliminate backward compatibility issues that grow as the client base grows. Put another way, Apple-TV will be the Apple television and it will immediately run the phone and ipad iOS and have access to all the software accordingly. Therefore the minimum number of ‘new’ software products are needed to be developed and supported allowing Apple to turn it’s energy into solutions that future improve the Apple-Verse while keeping backward compatibility and support issues minimized. Apple-TV box is too small to be part of this world and simply begins the integration of the iPhone and iPad with the television. PS: my guess is 3.1 is for the television and won’t see the light of day on the iddy biddy box.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:20:00 +0000

Here, you say the TV has been killed. In another rag you write about rumored features. You owe your readers an apology.

By: What's New in Green?

What's New in Green? — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:07:00 +0000

I love mine. I have three. That’s not to say I won’t get them on eBay the moment something better comes out!

By: What's New in Green?

What's New in Green? — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:07:00 +0000

Yeh I have three all JB’d with ATV Flash – tied to a NAS they just rock.

By: Andrew Sturgess

Andrew Sturgess — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:34:00 +0000

Actually, I think the entire set will be called AppleTV not iTV, and the current Apple TV will be renamed classic or something. Otherwise, they would have named the current little guy iTV as well. betcha 50 bucks on this..

By: Andrew Sturgess

Andrew Sturgess — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:26:00 +0000

I should note that Apple TV will make people who hate having a TV in a room actually WANT a TV in a room.

By: Andrew Sturgess

Andrew Sturgess — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:22:00 +0000

iOS to Apple TV airplay is pretty freakin awesome, I must say! Here’s the thing about Apple TV that the writer doesn’t get: a lot of people hate TV because it sucks, it’s ugly, it’s big, or it’s stupid. Apple TV is none of those, and just like a lot of dumb people thought there was no market for an iPad, they still think there’s no market for the current Apple TV. Competitors like Xbox, PS, Wii, Roku are mainly selling to people who definitely already have a TV and might already have cable. The Apple TV customers might have none of those things but have a computer (since computers suck a whole lot less than cable), if they have a computer, they might have iTunes. And now that Netflix is like a nationwide addiction for a lot of people, they might also want an Apple TV. No need for a price drop while the content grows, and the thing is already tiny and gorgeous. I saw it in action for the first time this week, and YouTube on it rocks. Apple TV is different and doesn’t want a thing to do with cable until cable realizes it sucks. And that’s fine. They’re not killing it though.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:08:00 +0000

Harvey,

I think Apple TV is in trouble because the ISP’s want a piece of the action here. Even if Apple TV was the best thing since sliced bread you cannot cut these guy’s out. Microsoft recently announced deals around with globe with XBOX TV. Verizon just sent me a notice of the service offering last week.

The Aussies already have it available on FOXTEL… Waiting to hear and see how well it works for myself before making any judgements. Honestly never used Apple TV, but I think their a bit greedy with their music prices IMHO.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:57:00 +0000

Apple wants the entire market for everything it sells, so they put the nails in their own coffin here. Apple TV is a dead tech crawling.

Recently every cable provider on the planet went into bed with Microsoft’s XBOX TV. Television makers are licensing and embedding XBOX Kinect sensors directly into their TV sets even as I type. Now the cable providers have a huge piece of the future action in play.

Predictions of what’s to come

1. Game sales are going the cloud route – so easy to make online purchases
2. Game stores will die – dump their stocks
3. Video conference calls will become even more common
4. Kinect will be part of televisions – already a fact

As with any tech the voice services will improve over time. Please, no SIRI comments, I am not here to argue what’s superior, I already own an iPhone, MAC Book Pro, PC, PlayStation, XBOX, Kinect, Wii, etc…, maybe a future WP7 or 8 device later when the hardware improves (I am vendor agnostic here).

Cable providers will surely get a piece of the video game cloud services, video conferencing, IPTV, and anything else you can imagine. Unless Apple manages to buy a gaming company their in for a long battle with any lonely TV solution.

Writing is already on the wall and I am no Microsoft fanboy either. The Apple TV tech could be the greatest, but in this market it requires support from other players, and Apple seems to love flying solo, which is great for MAC, iPhone, Tablet, but fails with TV. Elite attitudes get killed off pretty fast in the entertainment industry. Microsoft has long been a player with other companies in this industry, so I suspect their going to maintain their lead.

My prediction – XBOX will lead for as long as the cable providers and gaming console produces record profits as it has this year. Kinect will only sweeten the pot with further integration. I can see XBOX enabled set top boxes for a long time to come…

Sorry Apple :(

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Apple could give this device away for free and still make tons of money on content. We have one and use it every day. I’m willing to pay $2 more for new releases just so I don’t have to drive back to publix and use the BBX kiosk. I’m thinking about getting another one since you can get them for $79 now. If you know what you are doing you can set this device up so nothing currently on the market even comes close.

By: Thebigbentley

Thebigbentley — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:09:00 +0000

Since its just about the only Apple product not to get an update.

By: solomon_rex

solomon_rex — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:58:00 +0000

What do you think ‘column’ means? There is no op-ed because that’s an outdated concept based on the physical print newspaper business. Of course news and opinion should be mixed until the computers take over.

By: solomon_rex

solomon_rex — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:54:00 +0000

They can’t use iTV due to a product in the UK, iirc. So Appletv has been used for both products in the press, obviously there is no official name for the TV-based appletv, since it hasn’t been released yet.

By: solomon_rex

solomon_rex — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:53:00 +0000

Those have nothing to do with their profit margins. Yes, appletv probably has a good profit. Yes, it has stuff Roku doesn’t (and the reverse it true, btw). But no reason for them to change anything, they’re making money but it’s not a large profitable market right now. It’s a placeholder device for an eventual game console competitor (I think).

By: solomon_rex

solomon_rex — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:50:00 +0000

No, Appletv was simply so simple it doesn’t need a hardware update. What would you add? It’s already competitive with Roku et al so it can wait until they have a major update in the form of motion control, iOS app store or actual TVs. It’s not a device that needs constant updating to remain relevant. Most of the relevant features are software and content based, and airplay is a good example. Improvements to ipad is a de facto upgrade for appletv, for example.

It’s just a different market than PCs and phones and tablets, you can’t apply the same standards.

By: Mmedwith

Mmedwith — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:28:00 +0000

I thihnk the apple tv will continue to survive, not everyone can afford a new tv and this little box brings some of the functions to older tvs.

By: charlitos

charlitos — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:36:00 +0000

Small incremental steps change the way we use technology and our interaction with it. This is true for every piece of tech from the first television to the walk man. There was barely anything new with the walkman and there was barely anything new with the first tv, but that small increment that made them different was powerful enough to define an entire new concept. This is what Apple did with the iPhone and the iPad, just a small increment, a powerful one. And no, technology wouldn’t have stopped developing without iPhones and iPads but it could have perfectly gone towards a different direction that wouldn’t have necessarily been better, potentially slower to get the same place we are right now.

By: kingtj

kingtj — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:22:00 +0000

I bought one of these when it first came out, and actually, Apple has done a decent job of updating it ever since, adding at least one or two new features each time. Some of it, I don’t personally care much about (the sports content available to stream by subscription, for example) — but it’ll be a big deal for other users.

At the under $100 price-point, I think it’s a perfectly reasonable deal for a tiny, all solid-state set-top box and remote that lets you access all your shared content from iTunes, watch Netflix streaming content, and rent selected shows from Apple, not to mention the “little stuff” like Internet radio streaming and watching YouTube videos.

Even if Apple has decided they’re done working on enhancing it at this point, why is it such a bad product? The #1 biggest thing holding it back is holding ALL competing products back; lack of buy-in by broadcasters and movie studios. Just like the music industry did, they’re afraid of change to a digital format for all of their copyrighted content — and they’d prefer people purchase their programming the old way (monthly cable TV or satellite subscriptions or buying physical DVDs).

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:11:00 +0000

If ipods never existed we would have still had mp3 players. Yes but not 200 million of them.If tablets were never born we would be sitting with laptops on our couches. I don’t think you’ve used an iPad much… it’s much different than a LapTop. Much more portable and versatile. My company is replacing 450 Laptops with iPads and custom software we’ve had written specifically for our sales, warehouse and shipping teams.

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

True that.

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:59:00 +0000

In this case it’s dribble.
Get him a spit rag.

By: Iluvarott

Iluvarott — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:32:00 +0000

I hope it doesn’t go away…we have 2 of them and love them. I stream movies and music from my iPhone to it, and I stream Netflix. Wonderful and underated device!

By: Katestwins

Katestwins — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:50:00 +0000

About time. With a 720p resolution, mine has been collecting dust in the draw. Virtually every new internet ready tv and internet bluray player blows away Apple’s idea of home entertainment .