[opendtv] Re: Apple is ripe to be taken over, too

Albert has this interesting thread going on that TiVo is ripe to be taken 
over by Apple,
but Apple may also benefit by being taken over, now that they are
becoming more and more of a niche player -

they are strong with "content creation" with G5 and Final Cut Pro,
but iTunes, and the iPod, appear to be reaching maturity, and will have
substantial
competitors for both the online music delivery service and for the
playback devices.

Many people who currently use Apple products are losing interest in paying
extra for performance levels that are not better, and sometimes worse,
than they can obtain from specialized boxes that run Linux.

As for the residuals that are negotiated for creative content actors,
and ridiculous salaries for sports figures, and
even more ridiculous remuneration for "celebrity spokespersons"
that's just the free market economy -

I bet a lot of semiconductor engineers really wish they had gotten
ahold of a good sports agent or "personal representative" to 
negotiate on-going residuals and royalties for their intellectual property,
especially now that so many of these "creative engineering" jobs are
being outsourced to lower-priced labor markets in India and Asia.

Gerry Kaufhold in Arizona where it's 113 Degrees (F)


On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:34:48 -0400 "Manfredi, Albert E" wrote:

> I suppose that if iPod could be connected to the Internet to
> redistribute tunes indiscriminately, it might also be in
> trouble.
> 
> But when they talk about "content business" or "entertainment
> industry," it's too easy to point a finger at convenient
> faceless corporations, rather than individuals.
> 
> How much did the actors of Friends make per episode? It was
> something on the order of $1.5M, was it not? And this absurd
> gravy train is not going to stop, because they continue to
> make income after the program goes into syndication.
> 
> (BTW, doesn't that mean that each actor in Friends made in one
> season about the same as the entire NBC makes for these olympic
> games?)
> 
> Imagine what the economy would be like if *necessary* industries
> behaved this way. Take the housing industry as just one example.
> 
> Construction companies hire architects, civil engineers, not to
> mention carpenters, plumbers, and masons. Imagine if every house
> ever sold were to provide an indefinitely long revenue stream for
> the housing company, each architect, each civil engineer, and
> possibly even the various careneters and plumbers. Instead, you
> buy your house, and from then on, it belongs to you and the bank.
> 
> The good news is, no one is forcing this state of affairs to be
> the status quo. It ain't a govt mandate. It's just us, the
> consumers that permit this to go on. No one has a gun to our
> heads.
> 
> Same goes for the mercenaries that play professional sports.
> 
> Bert
> 
> 
> > Is TiVo NeXT?
> > The beleaguered personal video recorder company is ripe for an
> > Apple takeover.
> >
> > By John Battelle
> > April 08, 2003
> >
> > Everyone who has TiVo (TIVO) loves TiVo; it is to television what
> > Macintosh was to computing -- a revelation. Which is exactly why
> > Apple (AAPL) should buy TiVo and once again redefine the intersection
> > of culture and technology.
> >
> > Folks love TiVo for the same reason they loved the Mac in 1984 and
> > the iPod in 2001: It gives control back to the end user. TiVo viewers
> > call the shots regarding when, how, and -- soon -- even where they
> > watch. Once content or access is purchased, the end user is in
> > charge, just like with the iPod.
> >
> > But unlike the iPod, TiVo and systems like it are in serious trouble.
> > The culprit is the entertainment industry. TiVo has an abeyant
> > Napster-like quality -- and the content business is scared silly that
> > it will not only destroy advertising revenues but become the platform
> > for video swapping on the Internet. Case in point: A coalition of
> > entertainment companies recently sued TiVo competitor Sonicblue into
> > bankruptcy.
> >
> > TiVo's own undoing may come in the form of a recently reported cable
> > service. AOL Time Warner (AOL) (the parent company of this magazine)
> > has realized that its control-based business model will be in
> > jeopardy should TiVo succeed. So last May it neutered its
> > relationship with TiVo (in 2000 it announced plans to invest as much
> > as $200 million with the intent of distributing the services through
> > the now-defunct AOLTV), and it's now focusing instead on a service
> > currently called Mystro TV. Unlike TiVo, which is an intelligent
> > "node" on the edge of the television network, Mystro would be
> > embedded in AOLTW's servers, much like pay-per-view. While it would
> > give viewers some TiVo-like features (pause and rewind, for example),
> > Mystro TV decides which programs can be recorded and whether ads can
> > be skipped. And it requires no storage device, thereby exorcising the
> > ghost of Napster. Comcast (CMCSK), the largest cable provider (Time
> > Warner Cable is the second-largest), has rolled out a similar service.
> >
> > Mystro is a crippled model, one that in the long run could fail for
> > any number of reasons. (Here are two: Since TiVo knows so much about
> > you, it's a marketer's paradise. And the technology Mystro employs
> > may not scale.) But in the near term, Mystro could strangle TiVo
> > before it can hit critical mass. If customers know they can buy, with
> > a click of the remote, what seems like a similar service for $5 a
> > month, it's unlikely that they'll shell out $299 for a box that's
> > difficult to set up and may be moribund within the year.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,515587,00.html
>  
>  
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