How Apple TV Can Survive and Become Popular
December 31st, 2007 at 12:10 pm 
Apple TV was voted the Top 10 worst products of 2007 from popular mechanics, but does it have any hope in 2008? Could Apple TV be in the top products of 2008?
My Apple TV is a great solution for having parties, playing music and showing photos in my living room, but thats about it. I’ve had my Apple TV Since the end of march and I only have two movies from iTunes on it. I was happy with the quality and the speed of the downloads (unlike Amazon Unbox), but the truth is I don’t like buying movies. I seldom like to watch movies more than once.
Now that it’s confirmed Fox, Disney, Pixar and other companies will be renting movies through iTunes, could this revive this product from the worst to the best in 2008? If anyone can do movie rentals right, I believe apple can, look what they did with music. There are a few factors for iTunes rentals to be successful.
The Key factor, Will Rentals Be Available the Same Day as Their Local Video Store?
Having rentals available the same day as local video stores could make apple TV an instant hit. If rentals are available at a delayed rate such as on demand cable box movie rentals or Amazon Unbox then there’s little hope for success.
How Much Will Rentals Be?
The expected cost right now is between $2.00 to $5.00 which isn’t bad, but if it’s any higher forget about it. Apple has a great track record of trying to keep prices down, so I wouldn’t worry too much about this.
How Long You Can View?
Right now competitors such as Amazon Unbox, have 24 hour windows. If iTunes rentals viewing time is greater than 24 hours than it could be great, especially those with very slow connections.
How Many Times Can You Watch During Your Viewing Window?
Hopefully iTunes will allow you to watch the movie unlimited times during the window of time you have it. It’s not like I love to watch movies over and over again, it’s just sometimes I rent movies late at night and fall asleep to them.
HD Movies?
It’s highly unlikely the current Apple TV can handle 1080i or 1080p movies, but it’s also rumored apple will be releasing another Apple TV very soon with this capability.
Can Portable Devices Play Rentals?
If your iPod or iPhone can play these, than this will be great trips! Other than that I wouldn’t want to watch movies on my portable device.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:27 pm
There is already a good model for this: Netflix. Give us multiple rentals at a monthly price (or a maximum number of rentals per month for a set price) and let us download to our heart’s content. Have an option for buying the rented movie (at a discount) and a ratings system similar to Netflix.
The key, to me at least, is user flexibility.
We’ve demonstrated that we would pay for DRM digital music (in general) if there is enough flexibility. Giving us that flexibility for rented movies is the key to this being a success.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I wish apple would go to that, but very very unlikely unfortunately.
There are also rumors netflix and blockbuster are going to movie rental boxes soon too. Should be interesting.
If netflix did that with an unlimited monthly price, then that would be amazing.
December 31st, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Heres the scenario that I think will work best for most people. Apple TV with iTunes music download ( external HD to extend storage ), HD (1080p, 1080i, 720p ) quality video for rent or download. $1.99 to rent movies, $9.99 for purchase. The purchase movies or music can be burned to disk from iTunes from another PC or from SuperDrive in Apple TV device. Rentals are good for 48 hours view from time the play button is started. Purchased movies can be played from any video capable iPod (nano, classic, touch or iPhone).
That I think would be one extraordinary device.
December 31st, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I hope they give a nice discount if you decide to buy a rented movie
Example if its $2.00 to rent and $10.00 to buy it will cost $8.00 additional dollars after renting to purchase, kinda like buying singles on iTunes.
December 31st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Your article revolves around how rentals might revive Apple TV. However, I think for the Apple TV to survive, it needs more than this. Currently, Apple TV acts as a conduit between your computer and the TV. It is only as good as the content it plays. This is why Apple TV failed to capture a big market share. It is too dependent on iTunes.
I think the key to Apple TV’s success is for Apple to open it up to 3rd party developers. This way, it can be independent of the content that feeds it. It can be so much more than just a conduit.
I know this because I run two Apple TV-related web sites: http://appletvhacks.net and http://appletvsource.com. I know what it is capable of. I’ve been following Apple TV since its announcement back in ‘06.
I have also written an article called “Repurposing the Apple TV” about how 3rd party developers hold the key to Apple TV’s success. It is available here:
http://appletvsource.com/content/view/464/
December 31st, 2007 at 5:01 pm
KShackelford, that would be incredible! I would love to have the option of “previewing” a movie for a couple of bucks if I wasn’t sure I wanted to buy it.
January 1st, 2008 at 4:02 am
I think appletv is too expensive
January 1st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
They need to bring the price down, but that’s something Apple generally has problems with. If they were willing to profit a little less per unit, they’d move more units. That’s why I was forced out of Apple for about 7 years when my old 6500 died. I couldn’t afford another Mac until the Mini came out!