Its been almost 10 years since Apple was rumored to launch its own TV. Apple kept denying it, mainly because it does not talk about their future products. But Steve Jobs kept dropping hints that they are constantly thinking how to revolutionize the TV industry. The release of Apple TV in 2007 was the first step. The goal was not to compete with a DVD player and not to be another set-top box. In 2010, he said the TV industry is based on a subsidized business model, and that the problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go-to-market strategy. Also, unlike the phone industry, which has a GSM or CDMA
standard, there are no global standards for TV.
Coming back to the current interfaces for popular TV set-top boxes include TiVo, Roku, Google TV, Boxee. As we can see, the software is good, but has lots of room for improvement in terms of an integrated experience.
Apple is known for making disruptive consumer products in already established markets, with new business rules. In the TV industry, I think the biggest block to innovation is the cable operators. They control the distribution of content and their set-top boxes run on software that is really, really not upto the mark.
In my next post (coming soon), I will show how I want my Apple TV to look and work like. Stay tuned.
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