Launched in March 2007, the Net TV set-top, which transmits video downloads to a widescreen HDTV, has sold so poorly that the company won't reveal any sales figures, not even rough estimates. Not only that, in Apple's ballyhooed display of new products last week in San Francisco, Jobs didn't even mention the poor, little set-top in his speech.
And it gets worse.
Apple today said that it's discontinuing the 40GB Apple TV. Plus, in a desperate, perhaps last ditch, move to pump up sales, the company said it's dropping the price on the 160GB Apple TV from $329 to $229.
All I can say is: Good luck, Apple.
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You might think
that Apple TV would be the rage
considering that the media continues
to buzz about digital downloads and
other Internet-based video
distribution in the home.
But Apple TV's colossal failure is
more evidence that the media has
been dead wrong -- and that digital
downloads are still years away from
reaching a mass audience.
Americans are still in love with
hard media -- DVDs and Blu-ray
high-def discs, which is why Blu-ray
sales are soaring in 2009 while
products like Apple TV are gathering
dust on store shelves. They are
comfortable with hard media because
they have been using hard media
products for decades.
Despite all the hype about
technology, this is not a tech-savvy
nation. You can't suddenly persuade
millions of Americans to adopt a
strange, new technology just because
the media says it's cool.
Plus,
people are tired of buying set-tops
for TV-based purposes. They already
have a DVD player; a cable and/or
satellite set-top; possibly a
standalone TiVo DVR and/or DVD
recorder; a video game console; and
in some cases, a Audio/Video
receiver connected to their TVs.
And now Apple is telling them to get
another box so they can stream
iTunes videos and music from their
PCs? Fat chance.
Apple, put Apple TV out of its
misery. They shoot horses, don't
they?
Click to read more of today's Swanni Sez.
©
TVPredictions.com
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Phillip Swann is
president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in
dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox
News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The
Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The
Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at
swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
Click
TVPredictions.com
to read more news and features on TV
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