Apple never talks about unreleased products. It’s company policy not to do that, that’s what the press guys say every time you phone up and ask about some random rumor you saw floating around online. “We don’t discuss unreleased or future products.” That’s been the rule for a long time.
Today, Steve Jobs broke that rule and gave us a surprisingly detailed sneak peak at next year’s big thing, the set-top box codenamed ‘iTV’. Why did he do that?
Because if he hadn’t, and today’s speech had only been about color iPods, iTunes 7, and movie downloads, the backlash would have been fierce (simply because the build-up period hype was getting so hysterical). By giving us a good look at the next hot product, Steve Jobs ensured more positive coverage in the media, better future predictions from the analysts, and a certain amount of additional shareholder satisfaction.
And for the first time, he conducted a little bit of rumor control. He told us so much about the iTV (he’s right, they really need a better name), even telling us the price and letting us have a look at the beastie after the show.
The rule has changed. Apple does not discuss future products, except when it is prudent to do so.
I want my iTV. The ability to keep the living room clear of multiple boxes is what we all want.
The other thing that strikes me is that this will be a very useful chip in bargaining with the studios - i.e. you've got 6 months to sort things out, because the public will want this.
If iTV can't record, it's not going to end up in my living room.
If Steve hadn't shown the iTV, the pundits would be looking for a widescreen iPod still. The iTV returns the focus to the Mac as digital hub.
Record? Why? You're supposed to buy from the iTunes store, got it?
Steve intro'd the iTV so as to freeze the competition's sales during the upcoming Xmas shopping season.
has anyone else noticed the similarity of this working name - iTV - to the eyeTV? Which coincidentally Apple hired one of their top men last year... It's all falling into place.
> "if he hadn't... the backlash would have been fierce (simply because the build-up period hype was getting so hysterical)"
I'd say it's because it makes much more sense to announce a movie download service if you also announce a device that lets you watch those movies on your TV.
> "The ability to keep the living room clear of multiple boxes is what we all want."
What, you won't be watching DVDs any more? I can't see them streaming via iTV. No PVR either? I can't see the iTV replacing much of anything, unless you're only watching TV shows and movies that you've downloaded from iTunes.
I love how Apple's press says that Apple is "Apple forges path to digital living room". Yeah right. Ever heard of Windows MCE? For $300 I built a Windows MCE box that plays back 1080i content flawlessly thanks to an GeForce 6600 and Nvidia's excellent Purevideo decoder which means GPU-assisted decoding negating the need for an expensive CPU. Doesn't get any better than MCE + MyMovies right now, sorry.
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