Posts for 'iSuppli'

A new report out by iSuppli, written up in EETimes, caught my attention yesterday. I haven't read the report, but the highlights are that an iSuppli survey showed that "61% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they wanted the ability to network the Internet to their televisions, while 71% of male respondents agreed or strongly agreed. How is this relevant to Apple TV?

 

Last December, in my "7 Trends for '07" newsletter, I argued that Apple TV would only succeed if Apple adopted an "open" content model. In fact I suggested that Apple TV's key value proposition would be allowing users to access web-based content easily and quickly. Unfortunately Apple chose the opposite approach and made Apple TV essentially an extender of the closed, "walled-garden" iTunes. More recently it has opened open slightly, incorporating YouTube videos.

 

I continue to believe that Apple TV would rule if the product gave users what the iSuppli report underlines - i.e. a way to see their favorite broadband video right on their TVs. This is a problem begging to be solved. Untangling the UI, hardware and software issues is what Apple excels at. I really hope they see the light on this soon. It would help convert Apple TV from a "hobby" as Steve Jobs recently put it, to a product with real potential. If Apple doesn't do this soon, someone else will.