Apple iTV coming in 2007
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Sep 12, 2006 at 3:40pm
At today’s “It’s Showtime” event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Apple would introduce a product in the first quarter of 2007 that lets consumers stream their movies or music to televisions. The new device, code-named iTV, has 802.11 wireless built in, will sell for $299 and works with PCs and Macs.
“We think it completes the picture here,” Jobs said, referring to the fact that Apple has also started selling movies online. “Now I could download content from iTunes. I could enjoy it on my computer, my iPod and my big-screen television in the living room.”
Meanwhile, analysts at Goldman Sachs thinks the Sept. 12 announcements are just the start of a steady stream of consumer electronic announcements, according to AppleInsider. A trio of analysts lead by David Bailey said they foresee additional upside opportunities on top of their already-above-consensus earnings estimates for Apple. ”Amongst Apple’s three-pronged strategy—Mac, iPod, and new consumer electronics areas—Bailey said the Mac side is the most under-appreciated, as the company’s aggressive pricing on Intel-based offerings would accelerate an upgrade cycle within its installed base and attract new users at a faster pace,” AppleInsider notes. Shares of Apple gained 56 cents, at US$73.06 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Dude Says:
$299 is a little too much. Maybe $199 or $249.
Can I rip/save/play my current DVD library? Probably not.
iTV needs to be able to record live TV too. I know, I know, one step at a time. I will wait (even though it will kill me to do so) for iTV2.0
Posted on September 12, 2006
drdreric Says:
just went back and reviewed.... with the next-gen FrontRow interface, I guess iTV pretty obviously has processor and memory, (D’OH!)
Had another thought - what if the USB 2.0 is for an external drive for the iTV?
Posted on September 12, 2006
JGE Says:
My take is that Leapard still has a role to play with iTV. I think Apple will use the latest in virtualization technology to allow your Music, Video and Pictures to run in a separate VM from your regular processes. The ITV will be able to access access it and make it availalbe even when you have logged out of your Mac.
ITunes, and iPhoto will become client agents to the new VM processes that will be available to running in their own VM.
Posted on September 12, 2006
Rick Says:
There’s one big problem here: An iTV would need to play well with others. Most people aren’t just going to chuck their entire system to buy Apple’s home theater alternative.
Posted on September 12, 2006
Brendan Says:
I don’t believe it!!!
I said this the other day!
1. Apple remote! (I was right)
2. Front row-esque interface (I knew it wouldn’t be the front row interface, as the processor to power it would cost to much. (I was right)
3. Small device, and NOT a computer built in, as P.C. is for work, and the T.V. is for play. (I was right)
4. 802.11"n" (I was right, that’s why they are waiting ‘till Jan to bring this thing out.)
5. Near DVD quality (I was right, bandwidth costs would be too high with HD, and broadband it’s fast enough yet, and old iTunes video quality was terrible)
Conclusion: I know everthing, just joking!! No really, the is the first real leap the a company has made towards internet TV, there’ll come a time in the not too distant future when people will begin to ditch their Sattelite and Cable boxes, and go with this thing. And then Apple will become a kind of cable company. At which point Apple may offer a subscription based model for those people who watch alot of TV, and if they didn’t switch to iTV already they then will. Apple will probably keep the al-a-carté model, to please the other half that don’t watch so much.
Thr customer will then have complete control over what they watch, and life would be sweet. No longer will we be force-fed TV, it will be a buffet where are fingers to the picking.
-Ireland
Posted on September 12, 2006
Brendan Says:
Oh… and I was rigth about the cost too! $299
Sorry about the spelling and grammer mistakes, I was up very late last night, my bad.
No Movie Store in Europe yet, or TV shows, damn.
Posted on September 12, 2006
mcloki Says:
I have a feeling that since the mini is doing all the heavy lifting it would wirelessly stream DVD’s right to the HDTV. The question is how compressed will it be? I also believe that mini will be coming with BlueRay drives next January. Hopefully that HDTV signal can stream through the iTV as well. Overall I think Apple has a bit of a winner. Except Itunes 7 it looks horrible almost Linux like. Did the graphic designers leave the company? The scroll bars are practically ripped off from the Amiga. Give me back my Aqua goodness.
Posted on September 13, 2006
Beardedfish Says:
I want to be excited, but. . . TV show quality was good on iPod, bad on TV, sure they upgraded it, but is that upgrade enough to scale well on the big widescreen TVs that Apple is targeting?
Wireless and/or ethernet for the streaming? There is already crap tons of wireless signals flying around my house and overall they seem to bump into each other a bit (awful cellphone reception) then add another signal to that mix (perhaps I am just being pessimistic with this one). I am also not too impressed with streaming as it is today, drops and stalls over a building high speed connection for just music let a lone movies. There is no way I am gonna wire ethernet to the family room just for TV shows.
$9.99 for inferior resolution movies? I can find many good DVDs for $9.99, older movies though. The Disney stuff at $9.99 is great though since their DVDs NEVER get below $15 and rarely below $20 no matter how ancient the movie.
All in all this just doesn’t like a home run. Hopefully there are some unannounced features that will make it a must have, but I’ll stick with my DVD player for now.
Posted on September 13, 2006
Eduardo Dias Says:
Supposedly iTV is both for Mac and Windows.
Clearly, iTV works based on Front Row and the associated apps, Quick Time, DVD Player, iTunes and iPhoto. We know there are Windows versions of Quick Time and iTunes but not for iPhoto or DVD Player. So, how is Front Row gonna work with photos and DVD’s on Windows? A partnership with Win or PowerDVD and Googles’s Picasa? What, Jobs loosing control of the software and hardware combo?
So, how will iTv work on Windows?
Posted on September 13, 2006
Brendan Says:
@ Eduardo Dias.
You do know that with the windows photo album thingy. When one is using their Mac with Front Row, if they search for shared photos, they will find the photos on the PC too. Bonjour is both Mac and Windows, and is a free download here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bonjour/ (down on the bottom right).
And about DVD’s I’m not sure, but as usual they’ll probably think of something. If they don’t, then use your DVD player.
Posted on September 13, 2006
of course Says:
i believe its obvious what apple is doing. They are cementing their role in the media business, with the living rom, den (office), or on the go with iPod. Once they get the kinks out of it, they’ll have to start thinking about things like phone capabilities for iPod, cable for iTV, and a seamless Internet access for Mac. If Apple can simplify all these things into one signal going into your house, TV, Web, and Phone, people will swarm to get them. And they already have a web based product to market it under, .Mac.
Posted on September 24, 2006
Omin Shin Says:
hey.. that TV will be cool!
Posted on December 06, 2006
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
drdreric Says:
Given the USB 2.0 and Ethernet, wireless is certainly not the only way to talk to iTV. Clearly designed to be stacked with a MacMini. (I have dibs on the new gold-plated high quality 6” cables that will be necessary [that’s a joke… try and find an ordinary, non-Monster AV cable these days - the stereo stores only carry the high-margin stuff, you gotta go to the drug-store!])
Anyone else intrigued by the lack of FireWire? I would have thought isochronous data flow would be important to stream video reliably. What does this imply about what is in that box? At least a processor that can run codecs and enough memory to be a decent buffer.
Anyone else wanna read tea-leaves?
Posted on September 12, 2006