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Steve Jobs: Apple TV Is A Hobby | Will Internet Set-Top Boxes Ever Be Essential? If So, How?

Dave Parrack — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:46:46 +0000

More people than ever may be using the Internet as a means of watching television and video, but is there yet a need, or indeed a demand, for a set-top box? Steve Jobs doesn’t think so, and as head of Apple, he should know.

The Internet Option

The Internet as a destination for viewing video content, be it a short, user-generated clip on YouTube, a full-length television episode on Hulu, or a movie purchased from Netflix, has never been more popular.

But, while the amount of people watching on their computers is increasing rapidly, not many of those are taking up the option of purchasing and installing an Internet-enabled set-top box to move content from the Web to their TVs.

Set Top Box Choices

This is despite there now being more options than ever in this department, with Apple TV being joined by the Roku box, Vudu, the Xbox 360 and PS3, and even certain Blu-ray players as being Web connected methods of watching Internet programming.

The recognised leader of this field is undoubtedly Apple TV, mainly due to the size and brand recognition of the company itself, but even that is failing to sell in the numbers required to make Apple any money.

In a recent Apple earnings call, Steve Jobs even referred to Apple TV as “a hobby”, a term he used to describe the whole business of set-top boxes.

Apple TV Is A Hobby

Silicon Alley Insider reports him as saying:

“I think the whole category is still a hobby right now. I don’t think anybody has succeeded at it and actually the experimentation has slowed down.”

“A lot of the early companies that were trying things have faded away, so I’d have to say that given the economic conditions, given the venture capital outlooks and stuff, I continue to believe it will be a hobby in 2009.”

So, with the CEO of the manufacturer of the largest selling Internet-enabled set-top box dismissing the current market, what chance have the rest of them got to get even a foothold?

A Long Way To Go

The problem is that the technology has yet to go mainstream. Most consumers will be happy to have their cable services on their TVs and watch the odd video on their computer. But that could change as Web content becomes more varied and more mainstream itself.

As the Web video market grows, the set-top box market should grow with it. But there’ll also be a need for lower price points for the average consumer to want in to the revolution.

For Internet set-top boxes to become the future of television, great content, the right price, and an opportunity to watch programming not available elsewhere are all musts. And while those things are improving, we’re probably still a way off.

Apple TV Now Compatible With iTunes Movie Rentals | New Competitor For Netflix?

Michael Garrett — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:58:30 +0000

To make it easier to watch movies on the AppleTV, Apple today announced a new software update for the devices which will add support for the new iTunes Movie Rental store.

In addition, pricing on the AppleTV has been lowered, with systems set to be released in two weeks with the new software available for $229 (40GB) and $329 (160GB).

The Apple TV set-top box was originally intended to make it easier for anyone to transfer media files from their PC to their television.

This is an idea that seems to have been wholly accepted by consumers, although some users still experience problems due to the interface.

Current owners of an Apple TV need not worry about purchasing new hardware, as the company has mentioned that it will provide the new software free of charge to existing owners.

Steve Jobs Explains The Strategy

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO said:

“With the new Apple TV and iTunes Movie Rentals, movie lovers can rent DVD-quality or stunning HD movies from their couch with just a click of a button.”

“No more driving to the video store or waiting for DVDs to arrive in the mail.”

Should Netflix be worried or does Apple stand a change against the internet movie rental king that ended Blockbuster’s reign on the market?

Although iTunes has proved very successful in the sales of video and music, its new rental division may have more trouble becoming as popular.

Not only because Apple has sold millions more iPods than Apple TV devices, but also due to the static pricing rates Apple is set to implement for the new service.

Pricing Issues?

DVD-quality movie rental on iTunes will reportedly sell at $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, while the high-definition versions will be priced slightly higher at $3.99 for library titles and new releases at $4.99.

According to the press release:

“Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 24 hours to finish it — or watch it multiple times.”

In Comparison To Netflix

This pricing strategy is reminiscent of the overpriced fees that Blockbuster charges per rental, when, nowadays, I am much more fond of the monthly rates introduced by Netflix, and now mimicked by Blockbuster’s online service.

With the new iTunes service you could get 4 new releases for $16, whereas for a monthly fee of $16.99, Netflix offers not only unlimited rentals for the month, but also an unlimited viewing period.

Even though the new iTunes rental services benefits from completely digital download and no need for DVDs, Netflix’s plan also includes access to more than 90,000 titles that are viewable on an PC (or TV through the use a simple, inexpensive cable which is my method).

As far as how big Apple’s rental library will be, expect at least 1,000 titles (100 of those in HD) from all major studios by the end of February. From there it will continue to grow of course, with new releases expected to be available via the service within 30 days of their release on DVD.

Conclusions

The way I see it, Apple may have the “convenience” factor, but Netflix has the “value” factor and will also have new titles earlier than iTunes Movie Rentals.

It will just depend which is more important to each specific consumer. Given time though, its anyone’s guess where iTunes rentals will be in a year. Apple should at least consider a monthly pricing scheme though, right?

Michael Garrett is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com

Apple iTunes Movie Rental Service & Cheaper TV Shows in the Pipeline?

Tanya — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:52:06 +0000

A slip up by Apple in the latest version of iTunes indicates a movie rental service on the horizon. Mac developer David Watanabe was quick to notice this Freudian Slip and uploaded a screenshot of an iTunes System Error which requests a refund for non-delivery of rental movies.

Other errors which point out to an Apple Movie Rental service include; accidental purchase, poor content quality, duplicate purchase, wrong version and bad metadata. As expected Apple for now is staying mum on the whole issue.

After the recent loss of NBC TV Show downloads to Amazon Unbox it will be interesting to see the impact iTunes rentals will have on the Unbox online video rental service. With iTunes being such a dominant leader in paid video downloads this can’t spell good times for Amazon Unbox, or for other competitors including Movielink and CinemaNow.

Cheaper iTunes TV Shows

In other Apple news, it has come to light that Apple has been pushing the owners of much of the content that appears on its iTunes service to allow the TV show price to be dropped to 99 cents per show.

That is definitely a different direction in pricing than NBC wanted to go!

[Via Flickr]

Jaman P2P Video Client Gets An Update | New Features Include Apple TV Plug In

Paul Glazowski — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:00:35 +0000

Jaman is a P2P video client enabling users to purchase inexpensive downloads and rentals of films over the web. It focuses on the independent film circuit with International audiences.

Jaman launched a few months ago, so let’s take a look at what has changed, if anything, since then.

As it turns out, its creators have done quite a bit. Some alterations, some enhancements, some more polish. It’s moved along.

With the new Jaman, users can commence with a film soon after a download begins (granted that the broadband connection is fast enough to ensure the data comes down more quickly than video is played back.

Plus with an improved layout to the website and a new community page (one of those more interesting features of the Jaman project), the whole package looks a good amount more attractive.

WiTV from CrossCast Systems | Browser Based Joost Competition – Apple TV Friendly

Chris Tew — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:06:56 +0000

I recently rambled on about how the StreamCast Player was the most elegant flash player I had ever seen. The guy behind this fluid browser based video player, Micro Pasqualini, also hinted to me he had another project in the works called WiTV, but that this was “top secret”.

Yesterday I managed to have a chat with Pasqualini, who shed a bit of light on what this whole WiTV thing is…

I have to say I am very intrigued by the talk of a browser based Joost and Apple TV compatibility.

Joost on Set Top Boxes? – SlingBox? Apple TV? AT&T Homezone? TiVo? Who?

Chris Tew — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:48:47 +0000

Looking at the Joost interface it will be obvious to many that this is something that you could imagine on your TV screen. In fact, the first moment I saw Joost I thought that’s exactly where the company wants to take it.

Mike Volpi, the new CEO of Joost arriving from Cisco. told The New York Times that:

Joost is a piece of software and it can reside on a variety of platforms… It could be on a television set-top box. Or potentially it could be imbedded in a TV set with an Ethernet connection, or on a mobile phone, or in some alternative device that might come out in the future. The flexibility is really high.”

Possible Set Top Box Partners

But who will this STB partner be? Joost could theoretically just go out there and strike a deal with any STB manufacturer to create a Joost IPTV box that will bring Joost to the TV set.

However, I’ll put my money on the fact that they are also waiting for a deal with a popular brand with a large consumer base.

Let's look at the options:

Several models of the AppleTV

Chris Tew — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:38:03 +0000

Friend of webtvwire.com Eirikso has noted that there will likely be several versions of the AppleTV.

He gets this idea because the Apple TV is using a template in the Apple Store which is always used by Apple products that have different versions (e.g different hard drive size, premium models etc), rather than using the store template used for products that have only one version.

This no doubt infers that Apple will be releasing different versions/models of the Apple TV in the near future.

Apple TV released | How does it compare to the Xbox 360

Chris Tew — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:30:02 +0000

The Apple TV was finally released last week and as I expected the reviews of the device are not that flattering. I’ve said already that the Apple TV was over-hyped and I’ve noted a number of alternatives to the Apple TV (now there are even more).