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There's something missing here. The Apple TV is still a hobby. 3M units a year is not significant enough to sustain an app ecosystem similar to the iOS platfor
by nirvana 14y ago
There's something missing here. The Apple TV is still a hobby. 3M units a year is not significant enough to sustain an app ecosystem similar to the iOS platform.
Apple has been in this position before with small platforms. A good example is webobjects. They lowered the price and relaxed the license on several occasions hoping it would take off, but so long as it didn't they didn't invest in it too significantly.
I think John might be right that there is a new platform being announced, and certainly this level of TBC implies some very significant software announcements, but I don't think its AppleTV. Or at least not the current AppleTV.
Either some major new functionality in iOS, or a significant new TV product or something else completely seems more likely to me.
- klausa 14y agoI think he's trying to say more or less: "boy, they sold 3 million of those without any kind of support for apps, imagine how many would they sell if they would run apps!". That said, iPhone was selling like crazy even before 2.0, so I'm not sure whether that line of reasoning makes sense.
- kemiller 14y agoThere was plenty for iPhone to do without apps. Phone + web browser + email was pretty great. The Apple TV is ALL about content, there is very little point to it otherwise. Airplay, while awesome, is not going to sell devices in Peoria because it doesn't fit into an existing slot in people's lives. But if Apple has secured content deals that make the ATV a viable cable alternative, apps or no apps, they're really on to something.
- fpgeek 14y agoWith TV, in particular, it isn't that simple. Apple could easily wind up selling fewer Apple TVs by adding app support, not more - if they end up pissing off the content providers. Those providers have been known to be irrationally hypersensitive in the past after all.