Apple managed very successfully to package some obvious features into very attractive products (iPhone, iPad, AppleTV). I assume the Apple Television will follow the same strategy. The industry momentum is certainly to make TV center of content reception in home again and now via Internet. It is surprising that other CE makers have not moved aggressively into that space yet. What about the price tag? Mike Tsinberg http://keydigital.com -----Original Message----- From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Craig Birkmaier Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 12:50 PM To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [opendtv] Re: News: Apple's television could offer superior picture quality with advanced backlighting At 2:36 PM -0500 1/19/12, Mike Tsinberg wrote: >It could be helpful. What are the features of Apple TV set? > Everyone would like to know. This possibility that Apple will get into the TV business has the rest of the CE industry scrambling to "do something" at CES. That something appears to be additional models with the next version of Google TV, and some home brewed "Internet Connected" models. Nobody really knows what an Apple TV would do exactly, although it is easy to extrapolate that it will use the cloud and local connectivity to tie various devices and content together in the Family Room. Much of this is already possible with the current $99 Apple TV module and the Air Play feature that allows iOS devices to display content located on an iOS device, on the big screen. One thing Apple TV does not do at the moment is surf the Internet and run "apps" on the big screen. The new quad core CPU for the next generation of iPads and iPhones (I believe it is the A-5) should be able to run the same content and apps on a 1920 x 1080 HDTV that it will run on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. I expect that all of these devices will play a role in a potential Apple TV product, making it possible to use them as game controllers, controllers for apps and web surfing, etc. But none of this is going to cause the kind of disruption of an industry that we saw with the iPod and music, or the iPhone and wireless. Almost all of the pieces are in place for Apple to move into the family room, but the most important feature will be the ability to buy content ala carte, rather than via cable/DBS bundles. So in the end it's all about content, not the devices per se. Apple's cash war chest could play a role in breaking the stranglehold that the media conglomerates currently have on content. The company is rumored to be bidding for the rights to Premiere League "Football," the same rights package that ultimately doomed ONDigital. Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.