‘Popular Mechanics’: Apple TV is second worst gadget of 2007
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Dec 13, 2007 at 5:28pm
Popular Mechanics magazine has named the Apple TV as one of the “Top 10 Worst Gadgets of 2007.” “There is nothing wrong with Apple TV,” but “unfortunately, there’s nothing overwhelmingly right about it, either,” the mag says.
This is their take on the Apple device: “This is the rare black mark in an otherwise spotless multi-year streak from Cupertino—a product that was not only completely overshadowed by the company’s own iPhone, but by the larger industry of video-download devices and services. This was the year that YouTube showed up on Oprah, TiVo went hi-def and a startup called Vudu debuted a novel peer-to-peer service with a surprisingly large selection of movies. The field has become very crowded, very fast, with Sony recently announcing video downloads for the PlayStation 3 to compete with the Xbox 360’s equivalent service. Even Netflix, with its reliance on hordes of plastic media and snail mail, now streams entire movies.
“What makes Apple TV such a disappointing gadget is Apple’s relatively tiny yearly output. One lackluster product stands out more prominently when its one of only a handful of products introduced. It’s also a squandered opportunity, since so many users have already begun to associate the concept (and action) of downloading video with iTunes. The problem with Apple TV isn’t the interface or the hardware, which are up to Apple’s current high standards. The issue is competition. DVRs and Video On Demand have fought their way into American living rooms. The only way Apple could have trumped them was to offer a huge selection of movies and monthly, all-you-can-eat plans. They did neither, becoming an online version of your nearest FYE, with decent (but not surprising) prices, and a spotty selection of new releases and mysterious B movies. Owning music in any physical way may be a swiftly fading memory, but not so with movies. If you’re going to pay $15 for Wild Hogs, you should at least own the DVD, so you can share the ‘laughs’ with ‘friends’.”
Also making the Popular Mechanics’ list of bad products are: the Ironman Resolution Vibration Trainer, the Microsoft Zune, the Husky 5-in-1 Drywall Tool, the Violet Nabaztag (a Wi-Fi enabled “rabbit”), the Black & Decker SPT100 Specialty Performance Hand Tool, the Ugobe Pleo (a robotic baby dinosaur), the LG Chocolate VX8550 smartphone, and the Palm Foleo.
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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.
J. Scott Anderson Says:
Let me get this straight…Apple TV does what it says it does (and well, at that). But–reading between the original article’s line, it seems that because Apple TV has not completely revolutionized the world (like say a Mac, iPhone, or iPod), then it must be bad.
I expect better reasoning out of my beloved Popular Mechanics. I am disappointed in them.
Posted on December 14, 2007