Apple Inc Unleashes Apple TV - The Living Room
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Apple currently sells fifty million TV shows on iTunes, and announced plans in September of selling movies from Pixar, Disney, Touchstone and Miramax, so their foray into the living room is in alignment with their marketing strategy. However it's not only Sony (LocationFree) that is threatened by this incursion; also shaping up to fight for the living room is Redmond giant Microsoft. Microsoft's converted Xbox 360 was made into a conduit for high definition movie television downloads, thus putting that product in direct competition with the Apple TV.
The IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) enabled Xbox is also a convergence product (and a game console to boot). However there is little or no buzz about this IPTV enabled Xbox; people are more curious about the home server and the Vista OS. But it will be interesting to see Microsoft battle on the fronts of portable media players and in the living room. Microsoft founder Bill Gates claimed that by the end of 2007 the Xbox 360 would act as a set top box for interactive IPTV. As for the Apple TV, whether it will be a boom or a bust, only time will tell.
Complementary Products
Wireless Access Point
A product that works well to complement the Apple TV is the Airport extreme base station. It is a wireless base station. Priced at $179, it was also supposed to be rolled out in February. It is a "blazingly fast" and easy to use wireless Access point. The base station is in line with Apple's efforts to penetrate consumer electronics markets apart from notebooks and computers.
PC or Mac
Also needed is either a Mac or PC, running either Mac OSX v10.2.7 or a later version, or Windows XP. The system must be 802.11 b/g/n compatible.
Summary
Pros:
Good looking, cutting edge, powerful and versatile.
Cons:
May be overpriced (due to the price of upgrades for the PC), and may be incompatible with some existing networks (ISP and PCs).
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