Apple TV…am I the only one who thinks this is a sleeper product?

August 10th, 2008

This is part commentary and part theorizaticalation. Not only do I think that the next great thing to come out of Apple is the Apple TV, but I think it could – and should – become something somewhat different than what it is right now.

(quick note…I’m throwing this random tidbit into this here post both because I don’t believe it deserves its own post and because a commercial aired just now reminding me of it: I’m heartbroken that the next star wars movie is the animated piece of crap that’s being released in 4 days. and here I thought George Lucas couldn’t make star wars suck even more than the last three movies did. or technically the first three. whatever.)

Okay, back on point. Apple’s strategy for a while has been to embrace how the market has borne their products for the last decade or so, and that’s basically if the enterprise world won’t love Apple’s stuff, Apple will make things that rock the world of their existing fan base: consumers. That being said, I also believe Apple’s about to/in the process of making a huge power play for significance in the enterprise market as well, but that’s another post for another time. Currently, my point is that Apple is going after being our homes’ digital service provider. They want our digital universe to revolve around their products. They’ve done it with music, and I think they’re going to do it with video as well.

The Apple TV is dangerously close to being a digital media server, which is dangerously close to, well, a server. I believe that if Apple does it right, they could turn the Apple TV into THE digital hub of our homes: serving up all of our media, email, shared calendars, documents…you name it. It could become like a giant iPod for your home. Or rather, a giant iPhone for your home.

But I don’t want to discuss what the Apple TV could be in terms of the service it could provide or the merits of an Apple-made home server. I’m sure a quick Google will reveal many many articles about these two topics written by analysts and theorists much more qualified than I who make compelling arguments and probably much brighter ideas about what could be. No, what I want to talk about specifically is what form I believe the Apple TV is bound to take, and how surprised I am that nobody else seems to have thought of this. If you’re a blogger who has, or know of someone else who has, please do let me know. However after searching high and low, I’ve been completely unable to find anyone else who thinks this should or will happen.

Rather than get straight to it, I’m going to follow my normal operating procedure and loligag around the point before finally making it. You know you love it.

So…think about the awesome HD monitors that Apple already sells. Pretty sweet, right? And there’s a huge one that could probably be an awesome HDTV were it mounted on a wall…dang, I think you probably know where I’m going with this. That won’t stop me.

Next, let’s consider the lowly iMac. The savior of Apple. The original all in one pc. Responsible for singlehandedly making the home computer cool. And pretty much one of those neato HD monitors which a computer inside. Now you REALLY know where I’m going with this.

Why can’t the Apple TV be…a TV? Make an entertainment center/digital media server/HDTV that hangs neatly on your wall or sits in your awesome blue entertainment armoire? Call it the iTV. Call it the Apple TV Pro. Call it whatever you want, but the idea is take the current Apple TV and iMacize it.

They’ve done it before, and they have all the pieces to do exactly what I’m describing. Has nobody else thought this is a good idea? I’d love to hear anyone’s theories as to why it’s not. Or is. I’m fairly confident that it should happen and probably will. I just don’t know why nobody else seems to be.

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