nice analyses
More than any other Apple product, I think the future for AppleTV is quite open. Steve's comment at D ("it's a hobby") shows that it hasn't gone as he planned.
The most interesting comment was that they'd thought having iTunes as the lynchpin was the way to do it, but users wanted to bypass the computer entirely.
I think there are 3 keys that would make AppleTV successful
1) Rental (choose between DVD quality (ie better than now!) and 720p quality).
2) Rent/buy direct from AppleTV (not via PC), with ability to redownload purchased content if the AppleTV is stolen or movie accidentally deleted.
3) Agreements with the biggest ISPs so atleast the backend bandwidth is enough (my local ISP has just made an agreement with Apple for free downloads (iiNet Australia))
Wildcards that may help:
- A standard def 4:3 AppleTV
- DivX support
- Advertising support (could Apple insert ads to make our rental free?)
- Perhaps we need a way of getting existing streamed video off websites - but I think the quality may be too low for that.
- Bittorrent downloads for legal Podcasts (...independent producers can't afford the bandwidth)