The past week has seen intense speculation as to whether a leak regarding Apple’s plans for the underwhelming and under-performing Apple TV is real or not. Could it really be renamed iTV and priced at just $99?
Apple TV
Apple is unused to having failures on its hands these days, but that is, sadly, what the Apple TV has turned out to be. After the initial buzz in 2006/2007, the Apple TV never quite managed to take off, meaning Apple’s mission to control the living room has so far failed.
Apple has since started referring to the Apple TV as nothing more than “a hobby,” which is just a way of writing off its failure. But Apple doesn’t give up easily, and is highly likely to be about to reboot the product in order to try and find its place in the market.
$99 iTV?
The last few months have seen the rumor mill working overtime in regards to the new Apple TV. And the fact that several different sites, citing several different sources, are all saying pretty much the same thing suggests there is some truth to it all.
The first rumors suggested a device capable of pushing out 1080p HD video, built on the same architecture as the iPhone 4, using Flash storage rather than a hard drive, and priced at just $99.
All those details have remained the same through the latest batch of rumors, with the exception of the 1080p HD video. The new Apple TV will instead be capable of 720p video, which is good but not as good as it could have been.
Added to the mix is the supposed change of name, with iTV chosen as the new moniker in order to bring the Apple TV in line with Apple’s other products which all begin with a lowercase ‘i’. That may not please British TV broadcaster ITV, however, which could sue Apple if it goes with that name change.
The latest caveat to all this Apple TV talk is a rumor that Apple is thinking very big for the future, with plans to use the iTV hardware as a springboard for a $2,000 Apple-connected television set capable of being an all-in-one home entertainment unit.
Conclusions
There’s no smoke without fire, so I think it’s now safe to assume Apple will soon be unveiling its new version of the Apple TV hardware. But that $99 price tag doesn’t ring true seeing as Apple is renowned for its premium pricing strategy.
I can only assume Steve Jobs has realized $99 is the only price at which this fledgling technology is going to sell to the mainstream. And the imminent arrival of Google TV may have played a part as well.
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