CNet Casts Doubt on AppleTV's Future
There is an
interesting article at
C|net discussing not only how poorly
AppleTV has sold, but that most people don't know media streaming products exist or why they would want them. We started this site because we realized that not everyone knew what they could do with their media. Occasionally we would run across someone that was using the
Airport Express to stream music to their stereo, but more often then not we would see the people with the racks and racks of CDs and the piles of DVDs and they never thought of doing anything with them. Well it looks like after almost a year of watching and writing about the industry little has changed. The
AppleTV is selling poorly it seems simply because people haven't caught on to streaming their media around the house.
Sure the Internet is everywhere now and even grandmothers are using it, but the idea that we will ditch physical media to just stream movies over the Internet is still a far fetch reality for most. Nevermind that the US is woefully behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to connection speeds, but most people would rather use Netflix or go to their local rental shop. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but once their collection of purchased DVDs grows it becomes not only a pain to store them, but we found that you don't utilize them as much. Once we put all of our DVDs onto our server we ended up watching them more often. Not to say we watch more movies then normal, but now the choice of what to watch so so very different. With all your movies so easily accessible it made the selection process very different then the typical browsing of all of your DVD cases. OK, sure this sounds like the lazy mans excuse or something, it's not. Having all of our DVDs and CDs at your finger tips without having to leaf through cases to find the right one and without having to worry about scratches is a great thing.
Well the article is a sad read as it seems to point out that we are a long way away from people jumping on the streaming media bandwagon. Hopefully some more exposure and a big 2008 will help propel our little niche market into the mainstream. We are doing our part, not get out there and spread the word!
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Posted by David Ficocello at November 28, 2007 6:00 AM
This will be a long journey -- It's a marathon, not a sprint. The ramp for AppleTV will be even longer than the iPod, because:
1) Apple will eventually offer a rental model for movies (or a lower price) [this is why everyone is doing NetFlix]
2)Whereas the iPod stands alone, the AppleTV must integrate into the home theater. AppleTV really works best with a nice HDTV and a nice home theater reciever (multiple HDMI inputs) - not everyone has this.
3) Whereas the iPod simply replaced CD's - AppleTV for the near term must be a component in the home theater system (so the value proposition in the near term is less compelling.)
4) The faster broadband to the home gets, the better the user-experience will be.
We can also obviously look forward to:
1) AppleTV v2.0 (1080p, etc)
2) The ability to purchase content directly from AppleTV (similar to iTunes on the iPhone)
This will also 'forward' the AppleTV platform.
I personally have no doubt that the 'end game' will involve AppleTV-like technology... but it's going to take a while.
My guess is that Apple is committed to this path and they will be one of the winners due to 1) ease of use 2) breadth of content 3) their commitment to this market 4) the comprehensiveness of their offering (AppleTV, video-capable ipods, iTunes, iTunes store, third-party eco-system, etc.)
I personally use a MacMini + FrontRow for my home theater. I pay for the 2-3 TV shows I watch and they are commercial-free (I don't use Cable or satellite TV). I use NetFlex for DVD rental.
Think long term.
Clint
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