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The promise of an Apple TV (1 Viewer)

mattCR

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Originally Posted by Sam Posten /t/316924/the-promise-of-an-apple-tv#post_3907282
Good enough wins.
Words that always make my teeth grind.. then again, Apple has been on the other side of this a few times. But in regards to ATV, etc. which looks to challenge items like bluray and disc ownership, it may make some impact.. but the add-on device market is a hard one for it. It's not really a fault of the device, just the reality of the marketplace. The most viewed content on a home TV isn't bluray or streaming media, it's live TV.. by a big, long, huge margin. So, the thing about a device like ATV or Roku or whatever is that it has to compete for an extra slot on the TV set of inputs. How much market penetration they can get will be interesting. 4M for the AppleTV beforer really wasn't bad for a device like this. If Apple can double that number, they will be happy.

Then again, I think of people like my parents, who live in rural area where the fastest internet available to them is 384k DSL, and think.. despite all of us city-livers who keep thinking everything is moving to web only, we'd have to change a ton of infrastructure everywhere to make that really viable.
 

mattCR

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Ah, those of us in the city :) While at my parents recently, they received a letter in the mail informing them that all users of their local DSL service would now be "capped" at 10Gb/month. Which should be plenty for most, but frequent netflixers/etc. are common there, the community lost it's cableTV provider a few years ago so you get what you can get over the rabbit ears or you have satellite and that's it. So Netflix/etc. very popular, which I'm assuming is part of why their DSL operator had to put in limits. For that big slice of the world that has crap for internet, all of this just quickly passes them by; the idea of havng everything in the cloud just means they have to come up with a provider at a monthly cost etc.
 

Edwin-S

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Sam Posten said:
DSL has, does and always will suck. =)
You really do make a lot of statements that have no basis in fact. I'm using a DSL connection right now and it seems to work just fine.
 

Steve_Tk

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I'd concur that DSL does suck. No facts to confirm other than I used it for 3 years, moved, bought cable, and will never use DSL again.
 

DaveF

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My wife had a lousy DSL service at work ten years ago. She will not let me consider switching to DSL to save money :)

(It's been moot for me anyway, since cable modem has been better and cheaper where I lived and now live.)
 

Sam Posten

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Sure, I'm just making it up. 3.1 million results for "DSL sucks"
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/webhead/2002/01/why_dsl_still_sucks.html
http://theprotagonist5.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/why-att-high-speed-dsl-sucks/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Verizon-DSL-Sucks/107117599379899
Not new enough for you?
http://community.fearnet.com/_The-Horror-of-DSL/blog/5878921/40602.html
 

DaveF

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I don't think you're making it up. A friend had a terrifically terrible experience with the regional telco: no service for days at a time, refusal to send a service tech, and then fighting tooth and nail over refunds...and locked into a two year contract.

But your inductive leaps are somewhat large and encompassing :)
 

Edwin-S

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Sam Posten said:
I found 1.1 million reasons for why cable modems suck, so all these technologies have their fanboys and their haters. I don't know about the States, but DSL service where I'm at has been dependable; however, I also don't download a lot of movies and music. I mostly use my connection for websurfing. I did try out Netflix and my connection seemed to have no trouble with that service, and I'm only using a 6Mbps connection. Maybe Canadian telcos have more consistent quality over their entire networks than American outfits.
 

WinstonCely

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Hmmm. I know this has been said earlier, but I don't know about the whole Apple TV thing at this point. I just don't see how they are going to be able to get the quality and functionality they're known for, at a price point that won't exclude everyone except those with lots of cash on hand. I mean most people think that Apple's products are already at a premium price point already, even those that are willing to pay for it. Granted, there are other high-end brands out there that are similarly priced in their respective fields, but almost all of them offer cheaper intro-level products that are useful to get those without lots of cash to buy into their brand and then hopefully later upgrade. Apple doesn't do that.
 

KeithAP

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Originally Posted by Sam Posten /t/316924/the-promise-of-an-apple-tv/30#post_3909699
That's what people said, verbatim, about an Apple Phone.
And they were right but Apple lowered the price and then subsidized pricing came along. I don't see the iPhone being nearly as successful if it still cost $600.

-Keith
 

DaveF

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No subsidized pricing on the iPad and i hear it does ok.
I can't figure out how Apple will do a TV set. But I agree with Sam fully on his perspective.
 

Sam Posten

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The thing is they have a history of thinking differently about this stuff (heh) and yet people still say "it will never work" based on the pain points and failures and market pressures of the incumbents today.
I don't know that I can envision how they will do it right better than anyone else and I litterally own one of every major products Apple makes. I don't know how they will beat up the cable Cos, but I hope they ramrod them like they have Verizon and AT&T, yes PLEASE.
I think a TV is alll but inevitable due to the leaks but if I had never have heard these leaks I would say NO WAY would Apple make a TV.
And that is why I am so excited to see it become reality. To see people pooh pooh based on the limitations the first generation will srely be saddled with. And to see them smash those limitations one by one until dominance.
Or not. A big failure would be almost as interesting! A failure might make Apple more hungry and less bullheaded.
The zen master says "We will see!"
 

Steve_Tk

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I'd agree. iPhone would not nearly be as successful if you were not signing the two year deal to get for $200. But the reality is, you DO get it for $200. A $2000 TV compared to buying one for $500 at Wal-Mart seems quite a stretch. I'm not sure what they could do to make me want to buy their TV, but we shall see.
 

DaveF

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http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/28/analyst-speculation-points-to-2013-for-launch-of-apple-television-set/

I thought the signs pointed to a 2012 release? It's always one year away...





Business Insider reports on a new research note from Hong Kong-based research firm CLSA claiming that Apple's much-rumored television set is likely to debut in 2013 rather than the late 2012 timeframe that has been suggested by several other reports. CLSA is also one of a number of analyst firms that believe Foxconn's investment in Sharp is likely tied to potential for an Apple television.
 

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