IP Democracy: Apple TV is a Snoozer

For those of you struck blind by the beauty of the iPhone, Apple also had another major announcement today. Steve Jobs at Macworld this morning finally debuted Apple’s iTV unit, now dubbed Apple TV. Jobs did a masterful job of selling the impact of the new device, designed to route multimedia content to TV sets (widescreen digital TVs, that is), but even he seemed to softpedal Apple TV in favor of iPhone.

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive capable of storing up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and delivers high-definition 720p output. Content can be syncrhonized via iTunes and Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer and can stream content from up to five additional computers. It will hit the shelves next month with a price tag of $299.

But, the response to Apple TV has been underwhelming, perhaps because the iPhone has sucked the oxygen away from any other Apple announcements (such as the fact that Apple is changing its formal name from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. in recognition of the growing role of consumer electronics and content at the company). It doesn’t help that at least a half-dozen other tech suppliers have announced devices that perform functions similar to Apple TV.

Moreover, the output of 720p is almost retrograde given that the HD gold standard right now is 1080p. (720p allows for 720 lines of vertical resolution, progressively scanned —i.e. from top to bottom — while 1080p allows for 1080 lines of vertical resolution, progressively scanned).

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 9, 2007 6:56 PM to IP Democracy