Just read a report suggesting that Apple may be launching a range of Apple branded TVs later this year, based upon a partnership with a major OEM so-far unidentified.

If the TVs continue with the well known 'designer' look of their other products it will be interesting to see what these sets look like, if or when they appear.

Last night I had a visitor from overseas - they were travelling with an iPad

I offered to let them use their iPad and its music on my system

When I pressed [PC] on the Beo4 and our white BeoVision 8 came to life with iTunes on the screen there was a *gasp* ... a pause ... and then "oh you have an Apple TV"

Not sure if B&O should feel complimented ... or not  

elephant:

Last night I had a visitor from overseas - they were travelling with an iPad

I offered to let them use their iPad and its music on my system

When I pressed [PC] on the Beo4 and our white BeoVision 8 came to life with iTunes on the screen there was a *gasp* ... a pause ... and then "oh you have an Apple TV"

Not sure if B&O should feel complimented ... or not  

Reminds me of people who thinks that IE is "the internet".

 

I'll be intrigued to see how bno compete with Apple , let's face it , Samsung will supply the screens , so it's down to the software /hardware combination that each company can bring to the table and the tbh apple are light years ahead of bno in that aspect. Airport anyone ? iOS5 etc etc

If Apple do it properly , and from past performance I think they will , I think you can safely say goodbye to bno in the mainstream.

 

Sad really , but that's progress.

You could also argue that Apple TV's would hardly affect B&O at all!

You would have to imagine that an Apple TV would be more expensive than the mainstream but still way less than any of B&O's offerings. It may force the mainstream producers to sharpen their design pencils but is unlikely to sway anyone considering forking out £15K on a BV7-55.

As good as Apple's TV's may be they won't have the "snob" appeal of a mega expensive TV.

When looking for a TV i found that there really isn't any competition(Loewe included) at the moment to a B&O and as a fan that suited me fine. But being in that situation won't do B&O any good as that breeds contempt and laziness. 

If a nice looking Apple TV does come out and it is affordable, with great connectivity and is cosmetically amazing, the Beovision 8 and 10 will have to be bloody good to keep themselves in the market. B&O can't survive selling the odd 7-55 to "snobs"

I don't understand why a television can have 'snob' appeal. I was under the impression that all tv's are rather down market especially large screens!

It will be very interesting to see who Apple turn to for the speakers etc inside the television.  Bang&Olufsen anyone? Or would that be a dream?  Judging by the successful, dynamic collaborations with the automotive sector, maybe not!

All Apple have to do is sharpen their own design pencils and it's game over for lots of companies.

Apple have the interface, the operating systems, the image - and to some extent the design. Once that design is tweaked they have a full compliment of the necessary check-boxes ticked. 

Lee

Here's who should be really worried about Apple making a television: cable & satellite providers. Apple wants the revenue streams associated with content distribution. Gillette will never make the highest end razor, just the one that moves the most cartridges. 

 

The situation in the US regarding content is huge.  Cable companies bundle services to hide annual double-digit increases.  Network TV companies buying up niche channels so they can create trading barriers and raise fees.  And ROKU, Apple, Google, Boxee, etc., making agreements with Netflix, Hulu, sport leagues, movie channels, and the like so that they can collect on those, while selling the monthly service for $10 or less.      

I think Apple being in the TV business is about the alignment of the planets, not the weather in Denmark (or anywhere else).  Google TV versus Apple TV?  $40B cash versus $60B cash.  OEM (Google today have minimal overhead) versus product and distribution?  Wow, the numbers are mind-boggling!        

But any consolidation model creates niche opportunities for those who are wise and nimble enought to exploit them.  An example that comes to mind is an old motorcycle company from the UK.  Wonder if you will be able to buy an Apple frame to put on your Samsung?    

     

I wouldn't get my hopes up to high about a dedicated TV set from Apple. I guess it could be more like airplay licensing to other TV manufactures just like the sound systems with integrated airpaly. But it's all guesswork so time will tell. 

 

If Apple does come out with a TV set, my prediction is that it will be very much tied into iTunes (ie. a huge iTunes screen mostly) won't play nice with non-Apple products, have crappy audio (compared to B&O's tv offerings), and, the horror: have a super glary screen behind a full-front glary piece of glass.

 

 

 

 

TripEnglish:

Here's who should be really worried about Apple making a television: cable & satellite providers. Apple wants the revenue streams associated with content distribution. Gillette will never make the highest end razor, just the one that moves the most cartridges. 

 

TripEnglish:

 

Here's who should be really worried about Apple making a television: cable & satellite providers. Apple wants the revenue streams associated with content distribution. Gillette will never make the highest end razor, just the one that moves the most cartridges. 

 

Apple most likely will not sell a television.  What is more likely is several TV manufacturers will have Apple TV installed in the televisions they sell. Samsung will probably be first with Sony and others to follow.  Apple stores are not large enough to sell the various sizes of TVs that people would want.  AppleTV will be open to developers who can develop special video apps and Apple can take a 30 percent cut of the profit.  It will be like iTunes or iBooks is today.  Expect to see an AppleTV app store.  Apple, after having to deal with music companies and telephone companies around the world would not want to deal with the myriad of cable and satellite operators of which many are state owned.  Sony and others are doing this type of thing on a limited basis with TVs getting content from the internet.

I would hope that Bang and Olufsen have inbuilt AppleTV in all their TVs as soon as it is announced.  Didn't Tue have a visit with Phil Schiller at Apple?

I could possibly be wrong.  However Apple is a very software driven company.  They would make much more money selling content instead of the TV.  They are the world's largest music store because both PC and MAC users can buy music through iTunes.  With the upcoming iCloud and IOS5 software, you will be able to buy all the music and video you want without a PC.  AppleTV could work this way also.

 

Apple sell a 30" monitor and a 27" imac in store , it's not much of a stretch to have 40-50-60 inch tv's too ( on the wall , they won't take up much physical space ) , in fact the new apple store shop layout uses ipads instead of signs nowadays .

I predict Apple TV's that will blow everything else away. 

Apple have always been a hardware AND software company ( that's what separates them from everyone else ) , they have always strived to control the entire user experience , what could be more natural than an AppleTv ? 

And this time it won't be a hobby....

If they do or they don't, likely they won't tackle things like integration and they certainly won't jump in to the high end audio market.  Lets not forget that Bang & Olufsen really isn't for every body.  B&O doesn't really make very many "mainstream" products so I really don't see this (if it ever happens, of course) affecting sales at all.

Considering the relative dud that the AppleTV has been, I can't see Apple building a dedicated set and being able to push enough into the field to capture enough revenue from apps, rentals, etc. The overhead associated with designing, tooling, building, shipping, stocking, selling, and servicing TVs versus just giving their software to multiple mainstream manufacturers whose distribution channels are already in place seems pointless. 

Then again, they've tended to be the most successful when the redefine a category rather than just participating. It's entirely possible that they could enter the market with a 32" and a 55" model and just blow everyone to smithereens. People will wonder how manufacturers ever survived making so many TV sizes.

All their problems aside, they're one of the few companies I'd avoid too much prognostication on. 

TripEnglish:

Here's who should be really worried about Apple making a television: cable & satellite providers. Apple wants the revenue streams associated with content distribution. Gillette will never make the highest end razor, just the one that moves the most cartridges. 

 

Rubbish, Apple have no content contracts for linear TV. It's the video rental stores that are in trouble with Netflix, Apple etc. 

frog:

TripEnglish:

Here's who should be really worried about Apple making a television: cable & satellite providers. Apple wants the revenue streams associated with content distribution. Gillette will never make the highest end razor, just the one that moves the most cartridges. 

 

Rubbish, Apple have no content contracts for linear TV. It's the video rental stores that are in trouble with Netflix, Apple etc. 

Just like with music, movies, TV Shows, eBooks, Apps etc. when they have the hardware to support it ... they'll dictate the terms and make those agreements appear almost overnight.  They've proven this time and time again.

TripEnglish:

Considering the relative dud that the AppleTV has been, I can't see Apple building a dedicated set and being able to push enough into the field to capture enough revenue from apps, rentals, etc. 

As a very early adopter of the Apple TV, I simply cannot understand why it has not been more successful.  I use one in my living room attached to a small LCD screen as a music server, one in my main AV room (which will soon be controlled by a Beosystem 3 :-) for watching movies and TV shows "on demand", and I take one of new, smaller ones with me when I travel and attach it to hotel TVs that have HDMI.  I have also given a couple of the older type with internal hard drives that I have pre-loaded with music, and people LOVE them.

That being said, the fact is that you are correct: the Apple TV has been a dud for Apple.  However, if Apple simply integrated the Apple TV with an LCD screen, I think it would be a huge success.  Everyone who sees my Apple TVs thinks that they are great, and several have gone out and bought them.  Nobody has every said "nah, I don't think I need that".

While 3D tv has been a nonstarter for most people, a lot of clients are focused on either enhancing or supplanting broadcast television entirely. I don't do television installs without AppleTVs and more and more often Roku.

I don't think Hulu and Netflix,as they're ported to televisions, are ready to completely satisfy users, but you can get an amazing experience on your computer and it's easy to see the writing on the wall. We're probably only a few contracts and years of litigation away from the death of traditional tv.

Mighty Quinn,

You're right. The AppleTV has universal appeal, but the isn't enough on it to make it a huge success. It's a great supplement to regular tv, but the Roku actually has more content. Roku has hulu plus and amazon on demand. It's also retro compatible with TVs all the way back to tubes.

When Steve can find a way to pack more content on it it will sell more, but for the time being, the iTunes store is not as compelling for video as it is for audio. It's more expensive than cable tv on demand and older movies and series are often free on other services.

I made the mistake once of buying the first season of a television show for $40 on iTunes only to realize the entire series was free streaming on Netflix.

So while pay per track may work for music, where most people collect large collections and listen to music repeatedly, video seems to naturally lend itself to subscriptions since we may only watch a movie or tv series every few years.

Of course, as it has been since the iPod, the problem is not a technological one, but one of licensing and legality, so to think that building AppleTV into an actual television would change the game misses the point. And given the price points Apple would have to charge (let's say a 20% premium over the higher end of Sony or Samsung) to maintain its standards for ID and premium position in the market and you'd have an even bigger dud than the current AppleTV. After all, if a company like Apple can sell millions of people $500-800 tablet computers that are largely for novelty but not a $99 box, the problem is bigger than form factor!

Flappo:

...let's face it , Samsung will supply the screens...

Apple to Samsung "ok, let's get in to the TV business and compete against each other in your own established market? But remember we're suing you for copying the iPad/iPhone though!"

Samsung to Apple "sounds like a plan to us! Deal done".

I really can't imagine this happening. Why would it make any sense? Apple have a really strange repair policy for example. We have a broken 27" iMac - which is very heavy - in our office. Apple's solution? Walk it to an Apple store. Do they realise how impractical this is? God only knows how they'd handle broken 55" TVs.

Apple aren't geared up to manufacture, compete, display or fix TVs. It's a different kind of business.

Puncher:

As good as Apple's TV's may be they won't have the "snob" appeal of a mega expensive TV.

Snob value comes from the brand as much as the design. I'm afraid more people view Apple as a brand to own that B&O. Add Apple's superb design in to the mix and the "snob" appeal will be greater for the masses than a B&O TV.

As I've said in another forum discussion, I wandered over to the B&O Selfridges display area the other day. There's a new(ish) Loewe display area. It's far more modern, appealing and prices more compelling, than B&O. The TVs are better designed, more functionality builtin (Apple TV within the TV) and about half the price! Walked over to the B&O display area and it was sad, dated and with a really old, greying, sales person wandering around aimlessly. Didn't look appealing and no-one was looking at the product.

The age of the sales person sort of summed up B&O's market (or who they view as their market). People 50+, with a bit too much spare cash, willing to invest in a TV that lasts a little longer than your average TV. What they fail to realise is that kids love to swap out and get the latest equipment. It's the new fad. People don't keep electronic devices for years. They want the latest mobile, iPad, TV and car. They get bored, quickly. They don't like to be seen with the same stuff for too long. This is the market which B&O will have to appeal to in the very near future. 

If Apple did get in to TVs - and I doubt they will for reasons I've mentioned above - the "snob value" for the majority of <40 year olds will be far greater for an Apple product than anything B&O can produce. Plus a 55" TV from Apple will be well designed, contain Apple TV funtionality, ship with a superb remote, WiFi as standard and, let's face it, for about £2500.

i can imagine how you can think that, but the TV business works differently to those other industries.. $60bn pa of revenue is gained via the MSOs, IPTV and Satellite paytv operators and these contracts are not easy for the content owners to wean themselves off as they need this for content creation costs. cord-cutting isn't happening with the total subscriber count of paytv operators increasing year on year. Steve Jobs himself has said that the economics do not favour Apple to address this market.  this is even before i could address the content differences between other media and video.

Alex:

frog:

TripEnglish:

Here's who should be really worried about Apple making a television: cable & satellite providers. Apple wants the revenue streams associated with content distribution. Gillette will never make the highest end razor, just the one that moves the most cartridges. 

 

Rubbish, Apple have no content contracts for linear TV. It's the video rental stores that are in trouble with Netflix, Apple etc. 

Just like with music, movies, TV Shows, eBooks, Apps etc. when they have the hardware to support it ... they'll dictate the terms and make those agreements appear almost overnight.  They've proven this time and time again.