The Next Big Thing: an Apple TV for gaming?

Posted by Dennis Sellers May 29, 2009 at 2:00am

Everyone’s attention seems to be focused on the speculated “iPad” (Apple’s rumored answer to the netbook, tablet, ebook reader, PDA and—from all the attention the not-officially-announced device is getting—an anti-grav platform), but the Apple TV could be the Next Big Thing from Apple, per some pundits. Especially if you figure in the gaming equation.

Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster now anticipates sales of 6.6 million Apple TV’s by the end of 2009. He’s also predicting new Apple TV hardware equipped with a TV input and DVR functionality.

“We expect Apple to design a connected television over the next two years (launching in 2011) with DVR functionality built in,” he said in a note to clients. “These recorded shows could then sync with Macs, iPhones and iPods over a wireless network. The device would push Apple further into the digital living room with interactive TV, music, movie, and gaming features. With its iTunes ecosystem, Apple could develop a unique TV without any set-top-boxes or devices attached.”

Others are anticipating a rev of the Apple TV that could replace your DVD player, cable box and games console. In a conference call regarding the company’s latest financial results, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said he thinks Apple will continue to enter into the gaming world.

In fact, he’s predicting a move away from console games in favor of set-top boxes such as the Apple TV that offers a variety of different forms of entertainment such as games, music, video, etc.

“We will see more customers coming to the video game industry; they will start also to come under the boxes you see under the TV because those TV boxes will be more powerful,” Guillemot says.

Avner Ronen, CEO of Boxee, which has developed an advanced home entertainment system for Apple TV, also thinks this is possible.

“We would love to see Apple investing more resources in the living room,” he told Distorted-Loop. “Whether it’s new versions of the Apple TV, Mac mini or an actual network-connected TV, it means more devices in the living room that Boxee can run on. We also hope Apple will open up Apple TV for developers, so Boxee (as well as other apps) could easily be installed.”

The Distorted-Loop web site made an interesting point: “Note that the iPhone and iPod touch, together with the App Store, have already seen Apple develop closer relationships with games publishers than ever before. Given that these partners are already now developing using the OS X-based iPhone SDK, it’s no giant leap of fancy to speculate on future full-strength games for the Mac from these developers.”

Or for the Apple TV. Or perhaps with some way to incorporate the two.

Also, the fact that Apple is apparently planning to open a data farm in North Carolina could hint at gaming plans. If Apple is indeed developing a gaming version of the Apple TV, well, high-end games can take up a lot of room. That would mean a lot more storage than the video, audio, and iPhone apps that the company already offers.

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