Apple iTV: Amazing News or All Hype? - But Will it Compete?
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As I mentioned, Apple is not the first company that has tried to move digital media into the living room. Microsoft has been trying for a while. Then there's Akimbo, maker of a product that piped video from the Internet directly to your TV. It's now a software-only service included on the Microsoft Media Center PC.
One competitor that has real promise is Sling Media, with its Slingbox. This piece of hardware lets you watch shows you've recorded at home from any Internet-connected PC. There are also rumors that online DVD rental company Netflix is working on a set-top box of its own. And Wingspan just unveiled the iLoad-plus, a device capable of transferring audio and video content from a cable or satellite box directly to an iPod or USB-enabled storage device without needing a computer or an Internet connection. Our very own Rich Smith even reviewed a device similar to Apple iTV just a couple of months ago, the Hauppauge MediaMVP.
Then again, Apple wasn't the first one out of the gate with an MP3 player, either. But unlike other MP3 players, the Apple iPod has the Apple magic, that indefinable mix of coolness, practicality, ease of use, and out-of-the-box thinking that unlocks users' creativity, making them feel almost more like collaborators than consumers. Apple is going to need all the magic it can get, not just to answer its competitors, but its naysayers. Popular blogger Thomas Hawk thoroughly trashed the idea:
"So let's see. I'm going to pay $300 for a little dongle that will allow me the privilege of paying Apple $10-$15 to buy movies from them at less than DVD quality to watch on my new HDTV Plasma? Or...I can just stick with Netflix, pay a heck of a lot less and not have to buy the little dongle thing." Hawk then went on to point out the product's other minuses, mainly that it isn't even out yet and we're already seeing products that are capable of delivering much better quality.
So does Apple have a fighting chance with this new offering? I've dismissed Apple before, and the company has come back and surprised me. I'm not about to do that again, though I'm not convinced we'll see a full repeat of Apple vs. the other MP3 players. All I can say is, if Microsoft's Media Center department isn't a little nervous, it probably should be.
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