Here's my take on the forthcoming Apple HDTV.
Years ago MP3 players sucked. There was nothing awesome about them, they
were hard to use, low capacity, etc. Apple saw an opportunity to do
something awesome. The introduced the iPod and changed the industry.
Same story with digital music. Hard to use, hard to find, pricing all
over the place, mostly pirated stuff. Apple saw an opportunity to do
something awesome. They introduced the iTunes Store and changed the
industry.
And again with smartphones. Everything out there sucked. There was
almost nothing smart about them at all, they were hard to use and pretty
dreadful to look at. Apple saw an opportunity to do something awesome.
They introduced the iPhone and changed the industry.
Same with tablets. Everything sucked, running desktop OSes, as bulky as a
laptop, etc. Apple saw an opportunity to do something awesome. They
introduced the iPad. Game changer. Everyone is still trying to catch up.
Now we come to televisions. Everything out there sucks. ...oh wait, no
it doesn't. The market is littered with awesome TVs!
I upgraded my MP3
because the one I had was only okay. Same with my phone. But my TV is
awesome and I just spent $1,500 on it. I'm not getting rid of this thing
until it dies a natural death. Upgrade is not something I'd ever do
with any TV that works just fine. Hell, I don't even have Blue-Ray yet. Not
worth the premium to me and I'm sure millions of other people feel the same way.
Sure Apple's monitors are some of the best out there and movies on them
would look gorgeous, but will people buy them? Sony's Bravia line of TVs
has the best picture quality I've ever seen, but they are consistently
30% to 50% more expensive than other options and most people don't think
they're worth it. Sony is losing money on them quarter after quarter. An Apple HDTV is bound to be in the same price bracket.
What's wrong with the television industry is not the hardware, it's the
industry. If an Apple HDTV will let me subscribe to just HBO or AMC and
not dozens of useless channels I'll never watch, then I'll start
weighing my options. If an Apple HDTV can get me a price lock on my
cable bill like they did with my cell phone bill, I'll seriously consider it.
If Apple TV can insure that the quality programs I enjoy will stay on
the air for more than 6 episodes even if only 7 million people are
watching them, I'll buy two!
But if all the Apple HDTV will do is save me a few steps getting to the
same content I'm getting now, forget it. If the Apple HDTV is just going
to save me the hassle of connecting multiple devices by integrating them
into one, not interested. If it lets me change the channel by waving my
hands or talking to it, who cares? All those features can be added to my
awesome TV with a set-top box, a souped-up AppleTV (and most of them aren't even necessary).
I really think it's a bad idea for Apple to make a TV, but if they do come
out with something awesome that blows my socks off it wouldn't be the
first time. And I'll probably buy one, dammit.
