My Apple TV dreams
My friend +Jeremy Toeman writes today a lot about Apple TV: http://www.livedigitally.com/2011/08/26/musing-on-apple-building-a-television/ Oh, and VentureBeat says that Apple is working on a TV for 2012: http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/26/apple-television-2012/
Jeremy is skeptical about a TV (he should know, he knows the Consumer Electronics industry better than most anyone and has helped companies win "Best of CES" many times).
Me? I can see a way that Apple would do one. But, first, here's my dream of how Apple's announcements in October will go.
Disclaimer: this is only a dream. Not based in reality, OK?
First, Tim Cook will come on stage, announce continued great sales of iPhone and iPad, announce that another gazillion apps have been sold and developers are making tons of money. Then he'll say "sorry that Steve Jobs can't be here to do this, but he's been working hard with the teams on the next iPhone." He'll pull a sexy device out of his pocket, demonstrate how it has a better screen, better battery life, better performance. He'll rock through the top new features of iOS 5. Then he'll invite a couple of app partners on stage to show off some of the cool things developers are doing with the new iCloud and the new APIs. This developer (say it's Flipboard or something similarly sexy) will show off how they took advantage of the new notifications and other features in iOS 5.
Then that developer will show how iPhones and iPads will work together really well. Again, thanks to iCloud. The basics covered, Cook will move onto the next thing.
He will pull a TV out on stage. Say, a Panasonic or a Samsung, which regularly are in the top of the ratings for best TV on the market. The Vizio in my studio is pretty good, though, but Apple really wants to make sure you see the top of the market, not the value priced brand.
Then Tim Cook will start off:
"As you know, Steve Jobs and I are seeing that TV just isn't very good. Here, let's pull up DirecTV. First, that means you need two remote controls: one for the TV, one for your DirecTV recorder and control. It also means you need hardware attached to your house, in this case a dish. If you went with cable TV, though, you'd need an ugly PVR sitting next to your TV too, same with DirecTV.
"Let's dig into that experience. First, let's say you want to go from ABC to CNN, there are several ways, let's walk through that." (he shows you how you can go channel by channel, or do several clicks to get to a search box).
"Now, let's show you what Steve and the iTV team have been working on for the past two years." (he pulls out an iPad, which has a new app on it. The app gets flashed on the screen).
"Instead of the channel-by-channel navigation, you can just touch and you get an instant preview of the channel." (He touches ESPN and it shows what's on air right there. Then he goes to ABC and shows that preview. Then heads to CNN and shows that preview).
"But this just improves the current TV system a little bit. We worked to bring a huge breakthrough. Well, this is why we built a 500,000-square-foot datacenter. For the past year we've been digitizing every TV show. Now you can go back in time and see all your shows, no matter when they were played. Want to see the finals of "You Think You Can Dance" from a few months back? You can just slide your finger and head back to August, or, you can slide this nice search box down and just search for "YTYCD."
"Want to see that great shot at the Masters? Search for "best shot at the Masters."" (he explains how they got the metadata out of Twitter to do that).
"Want to see that great dress that Lady Gaga was wearing at the Oscars? Search for "lady gaga oscars dress." Up comes a preview.
He does this a few more times, all on the iPad, before explaining "but TV isn't about watching video on just your iPad. It's about just sitting back and watching your favorite shows, news, sports on your big-screen TV.
"So, today, we're introducing new versions of Apple TV and AirPlay. AirPlay is the protocol built into every iPhone and iPad that makes this all possible and the AppleTV now is even better. Let's show you." He shows off several experiences where you can push video from iPad or iPhone apps to your big screen.
He then explains how cable TV works. "You pay between $50 to $200 per month to watch your favorite shows, and you are stuck with this crappy experience." How about if we just gave you everything, all your favorite sports, all your favorite TV shows, all your favorite news shows, all for a low price of $50 per month?
"Until today Apple TV cost $99, which is pretty low cost considering some of our competitors are charging $299. But, to launch this all off properly, we'll give you an AppleTV for free, with a two-year commitment. Or, if you don't want to commit to our $50 per month plan for two years, AppleTV is now $49.
He then pulls out execs from ESPN, Fox, Disney, etc. and has them explain why they bought into this. He also then explains that even Comcast is behind this and will introduce a new bandwidth and iTV plan. The press will understand then why Tim Cook is CEO and why he is worth all that money and why Steve Jobs is behind him.
"But I have one more thing," he will say. First, I want to introduce my friend Steve Jobs."
The audience goes wild, giving Steve a standing ovation. Especially when we notice he is weak and is ill." Steve will say "you can see that I'm battling cancer, but as chairman of Apple and in response to all the goodwill you have shown me, I wanted to come out to show you one more thing."
"I've been watching Tim Cook demonstrate the new Apple TV and AirPlay system and you can see it's quite impressive and will make your TV watching experience radically simpler. But, really, we need to talk about the TV itself and that's why I came out here."
"I've been working with some of the newest screen technology and we've found a way to get even better color than any existing TV has. So, let me show you our new 65-inch Apple TV." (This part is NOT a dream, Nanosys showed me new screen technology already that's coming soon. Watch this video: http://scobleizer.com/2011/06/23/is-this-awesome-new-screen-technology-gonna-be-in-ipad-3-i-hope-so-wow/ ).
He then pulls the cover off of the Apple TV. On the screen, right next to the Samsung screen, are the same images. Except that on the Apple TV the image has dramatically better color and contrast. (Again, this part is not a dream, Nanosys already showed it to me).
"Now, of course, since this is an Apple product, it has the design you all expect. Look at the back, no more ugly air holes like on other products. Only one smooth piece. But there's more, look at the base."
He asks for help on this part.
"In the base there's a little black thing. Let's pop it out of its holder. This is an Apple TV. So, two years from now when the technology changes once again you can just pop this off and upgrade your TV. We know that this screen is going to be part of your life for at least 10 years, so we want to make sure it's totally upgradeable for technology changes of the future."
"So, how much do you think this is all worth? Keep in mind that on Google you can find a top-of-the-line Samsung TV for about $4,800 right now (http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ie=UTF-8&ion=1&nord=1#hl=en&cp=22&gs_id=i&xhr=t&q=samsung+65+inch+led+tv&qe=c2Ftc3VuZyA2NSBpbmNoIGxlZCB0dg&qesig=w2Eg-TO6AJKYRHwIpGaHYQ&pkc=AFgZ2tkl2z9YFN1gVjjKTqllL-9KNejnkbwZeqqYVLHzT7GwnQ95cGuw0aYsUcBIbQI4W4RWNLJEXsiUlMxHlrzyWhlfQ3mXDA&pf=p&sclient=psy&nord=1&site=webhp&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=samsung+65+inch+led+tv&aq=0&aqi=g5&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=30826624ae1de6f2&ion=1&biw=1550&bih=1004).
"What if we sold this TV for $5,000? Do you think that would be fair? After all, it's definitely better than the Samsung, or any other TV on the market. I'm proud to announce that the technology for this new LED backlight that's giving us so much better color was developed and manufactured right here in Silicon Valley, too (Nanosys is here). It's really great to be able to bring some manufacturing back to the United States (another little dig at Samsung).
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Anyway, that is my dream. Is it Steve Jobs' dream? Tim Cook's dream? We'll find out in October. If it is, I got $5,000 all saved up.