Over at DVR Bulletin, my other blog, I posted a story from Forbes titled: “How Apple Got Apple TV Wrong“. It’s a pretty good look at how Apple’s new Apple TV box hasn’t fared as well as say, the iPod.
Essentially it comes down to money and technology: Disagreements between Apple and Hollywood on pricing video downloads. And putting out a product that lacks functions found in competitors like Tivo and Vudu.
Popularity: 25% [?]
I don’t think that it’s just about pricing or functionality, but has more to do with Apple’s insistence on maintaining a proprietary network for their media. When they came out with the iPod, they didn’t make it exclusive for iTunes because consumers would have never have purchased it. Instead they allowed customers to use their .mp3s on the iPod, even though Apple didn’t make money from them.
Then AppleTV comes out and instead of licensing codecs like Silverlight and DivX, they choose to freeze everyone out and are then surprised when consumers won’t buy the box. I think that there is a business model for a digital bridge product, but Apple needs to either integrate the technology into products that people were going to already buy or they need to open up their ecosystem, so consumers aren’t limited to a couple thousand downloads. If TiVo had to rely exclusively on Amazon, there’s no way people would pay money for it, but because they support the recording of cable content, it’s been more popular. Why Apple didn’t include a DVR in the AppleTV is beyond me, but until they support more sources of content, it will continue to be a flop.
Comment by Davis Freeberg — October 5, 2007 @ 9:43 am