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Archive for the ‘apple’


iMac Turns 10

Published August 15th, 2008 in apple | No Comments »

iMac Circa 1988

iMac Circa 1988

Couldn’t resist this one, since the iMac has had a special place in my heart for so long. They were cheap and powerful, and I used them in my multimedia business for years. Heck we even bragged that our web site and content management system ran with months of uptime on a lowly Grape-Ape iMac.

The machine that saved Apple was a gimpy little thing by today’s computing standards, but it really had a big influence not only on the computer industry, but also on consumer product design for years to follow. Heck, even the George Foreman Grill riffed on the candy-colored plastic motif :D.

The look was so radical that it sent the competition back to the drawing boards. The iconic design of Jonathan Ive would prove to be just the shot in the arm that Apple needed. In the decade since then, Apple has gone from near bankruptcy to the market leader with $24 Billion in the bank.

Just goes to show…design counts.

[ via Tuaw ]

Apple TV, Take 2 - Now how much would you pay?

Published January 19th, 2008 in apple, broadband, entertaiment, iptv, media, mobile, music, technology, tv | 1 Comment »

Apple TV Take Deux

Try $229.

See, some time ago, there was a meeting of the Jedi Council about the future of multimedia entertainment. The discussion went like this:

• Make a box with broadband.

• Make it work across a lot of screens: lappies, PDAs, TVs, PiMPs.

• Download media directly from the content owner.

• Make it dirt simple to use.

• Make it affordable.

That was 1999, and then again, in 2004. No company hit all the right spots back then. Now you have one company that (finally) covers all of these areas. The only company in the industry, by most accounts (you best check yourself before you trot out tired-ass M$ and the X-Tremely Nubtarded Xbox 360.)  AppleTV in it’s current form makes this happen for $229.

If you only watch some basic shows, the ATV+iTunes offering might be more affordable for some people, at $2 per show, $3 movie rental. Or it might scratch the itch of someone with a large multimedia library. When you add portability to this offering, the value is even better. And since no competitor makes it this simple or affordable, they can make a little money on this, I bet. And if the hackers have their way, you’ll be able to do a lot more with the box than meets the eye.

The down side of course is that it doesn’t appeal to power users. And that’s fine. Some people have larger collections of media, and need to do a lot more with it. They get computers :)

Instead, talk to a kid who is knee-deep(totally) into iTunes, and then run the clock forward a few years. Think they might not bother with getting a traditional TV subscription? What about when their favorite shows are ad-supported and free, available on all the screens they own? Now how much would you pay?

While people are focusing on the rentals, and the total cost of ownership, they really need to be looking at this little announcement from the BBC. This is just the first major (read: non-UGC) content owner to plumb programs directly to the AppleTV over broadband.

When the big 5 networks do this, and make it free, how long will it take before the larger masses start moving away from appointment viewing that has been with us since Punch and Judy tickled our funny bones? If the trends continue, 5-10 years might not be too outrageous to envision. Then what happens to the traditional providers?

Hmmm…that’s a good question.

=|>

AppleTV Failure? Enough Already!

Published December 12th, 2007 in apple, technology | 3 Comments »

apple tv

Boy, you gotta love “analysts” (hmmm…starts with “anal”—go figure.) Seems that some lovely ANALysts are signing death warrants for Apple TV already. Even the well-respected ArsTechnica jumped on the Bandwagon o’ Doom. Ok peops, crack pipes down. Test over. You failed. Here’s why…

(But first a word from our Sponsor. I own Apple stock. Far from a dripping fanboy. I like making money. They made me a lot. Deal with it.)

Since when does Apple have to have a blockbuster hit for a product to be successful? They offer a $300 box that sells about 500,000 in its first year. No advertising. No promotion. Hmm…if you do the math, assuming a paltry 20% profit margin, they added about $30,ooo,ooo dollars in profit to an already phat bottom line. A Beyonce’-sized bottom line, knamean?

I think the guys over at RoughlyDrafted have it right. Apple already owns the video download market with a 91% total share in TV shows and movie downloads, this after being in the market less than 2 years. But what few folks have mentioned is this: Apple is on such a roll right now, they clearly have bigger plans for the Apple TV. Why would they even offer a product that depends on paid downloads only for content? Even with their market position, they can’t change the fact that people don’t want to buy movies as much as they want to rent them. So, will they start doing this? Time will tell. But in the meantime, they continue to add to the $15 billion dollar pile of dead prezidentz under their mattress. God I love money.