01/11/2008, 10:05am, EST
Friday, January 11th
New Apple TV coming in major video offensive?
A new version of the Apple TV will help spearhead an Apple video offensive, a new report claims. BusinessWeek writes that it has learned of the new set-top with certainty, although it cannot say what particular features it will bring. Other reports have indicated that users may be able to buy or rent videos directly from the device, which would address one of its long-standing complaints and put it into competition with the video-on-demand services provided by cable and satellite companies.
Apple believes it is in desperate need of a new approach to video, according to the report. Video sales form only 19 percent of its iTunes sales, and an even smaller amount compared to the video industry as a whole. To that end Apple is looking not only to begin video rentals through iTunes, but to have more new releases available, beyond just those from Disney. Apple CEO Steve Jobs sits on Disney's board of directors.
BusinessWeek claims that deals have already been cemented with Disney and 20th Century Fox, though their release intervals for rentals will not be the same. Separate deals are said to be near completion for Warner Bros. and Paramount, while Lionsgate may be willing to rent videos, but will not sell its newest titles. Sony and Universal, active rivals to Apple, are said to be "unlikely" to support Apple's video efforts. Some details Apple has ready are expected to be announced during the January 15th Macworld keynote.
Filed under: Apple, industry
Other story tags: sony, video, Apple TV, Universal, Fox, Paramount, Disney, Lionsgate, Warner Bros.
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I also expect software updates to keep the current Apple TV owners happy. It's a great device, just needs a bit of a push in the right direction from the mothership
But considering all the play made of apple changing the way it reports income from the device, that would imply new features would be brought to it.
Yeah, because why would you want to use the most convenient option. It's so much better to require having your computer on all the time so you can go through your content, or spend another $100 on a router.
An AppleTV will only stream from an iTunes library, but does that very well over my wireless network. It will not access a drive connected to an Airport without 3rd party hacks, which would also allow a direct USB drive connection.
FWIW, video streaming from an Airport Disk does not work, at least to my wireless MacBook Pro
my hope is that they'll release a premium version of the ATV with a Bluray Drive and update the software of the old units with new features announced at MWSF. then i'll put the new one in the living room and the old one in the bedroom.
clearly the current device is capable of far more than it is currently doing, since it is essentially a small computer running OS X. it's worked flawlessly and only had one software update in a year.
Existing unit has: HDMI out (480/720/1080) - check! Component out (480/720/1080) - check! Optical audio out - check! Internet connection - check! Directly updatable software - check!
What's not to love?
as usual, you know what to do... STFU.