Bombastic Bunny

I really think the Apple TV fails it. Do I think that it’s a bad idea in general for Apple to make a TV product, though? No way, I think they could do it well, and they’re almost there - the implementation is just wrong. Instead of making a weird custom Mac mini, they should be looking to make an Airport Express successor. I called it Airport TV here.

So what’s this Airport TV idea? Why is it different? Well, Airport TV has no hard drive, it has no IR port, it is not an ordinary AV component and it is not super expensive. Airport TV is $129, and it does a few things differently.

Why?

I guess when it comes down to it, the Apple TV is basically this idea (which I’ve had for some time) in the form of a set top box, but it’s made all wrong. Not just aesthetically, it’s positioned as something you use alongside your cable TV box as some sort of simple gateway, but I think the Airport TV could do it better.

The purpose of the Airport TV should basically be to get “Apple in the living room”, just like Microsoft are trying to do with Vista MCE and Xbox 360, and Sony with Playstation 3. It should allow someone to play all their media back on a TV, as well as explore other things appropriate for television - for instance, Youtube surfing, reading mail and other future usages.

A simplified Mac Mini is the wrong way to do it. Anything that’s a noisy, complicated box you put next to your DVD player is the wrong way to do it. This is the right way, and it’s a lot simpler:

Connectivity

Let me explain with a diagram. This is how it would hook up:

Got that? No? Alright. So.. the Airport TV is a white power brick, like the Airport Express. Difference is.. it’s a drop-in solution, that doesn’t play with all the crap behind it. It has a video\sound input, and a video\sound output, so that everything coming from the receiver passes through it then into the TV. It basically acts as an “always there” device that can be summoned at all times. I suppose if you use your TV’s multiple inputs it doesn’t work quite as well, but its prime intention should be to sit inbetween all the junk. Maybe there can be a custom port on it with splitter adaptors made for having several devices plug into it?

So it’s a box that sits inbetween the TV and your stuff. But how can it do anything if it’s as small as a power brick? Well, it operates on the principle the Apple TV half-operates on - that it piggybacks on a computer in the house that gives it media. It also accesses the internet through your wireless network.

There should be a “Airport TV daemon” that you can install for Windows and Mac. This app sits in the background on your PC and will serve a library to the AirPort. All computers currently available will be auto-detected and added to the pool of media content via Bonjour or whatever.

Marketing

I doubt $129 would be a profitable price to set, but Apple should do it. This should be an extremely high volume device, sold to everyone, Mac or PC user, iPod user or not, intended only to break even.

Why? So Apple can become this huge monolithic media company, of course. Basically, if Apple can sell millions of them, they’re gonna be able to better compete with the Xbox 360 and PS3 once Microsoft and Sony start eating at the iTunes Store’s dominance.

Functionality

So what does it do when you plug it in? Well..

• Plays music.
• Plays videos. (Not just from iTunes, should allow you to pick a directory to scan.)
• Shows pictures.
• Can buy stuff from iTunes Store
• Views more dynamic video - trailers, but also full Youtube support (do a deal with the company!) and free streaming TV channels.
• Views email (support for Apple Mail, Outlook, Entourage should be enough.)
• Web browser.. maybe. Be the new WebTV!

But how do you control it with no IR port? Well, amazingly, they invented this new radio frequency technology a few years ago called Bluetooth, which would be pretty ideal. I haven’t got a mockup, but I think it should have a sort of iPod-mini-like remote control that has an LCD, and a proper clickwheel. If it’s affordable, maybe it could be touchscreen like the iPhone? This would allow you to more easily search out complex things and maybe even type stuff out for searches and other things like that.

Conclusion

The Apple TV is overpriced and pretty stupid. It just seems like it was done the wrong way. I think Apple should make this device, instead, and further the whole “we make great consumer electronics” thing by making the swift, decisive move of releasing a product far more clever and unique than the competitors.

Think about it - the power brick is invisible, all the buyer sees is a pretty remote control. At any time they want to watch stuff, they press a button and smoothly move around the pretty menus, watching interesting stuff that’s all quietly streamed in the background from their desktop PC that has all their media.

No fuss with noisy boxes with lots of cables everywhere. No pointless hard drive buzzing away. No huge complex remote, but no oversimplified toy one either. No $299, $399, $599 or $799 price tag, just a simple $129 impulse purchase that lets you do oh so much with oh so little hardware.

Maybe we’ll get it with Apple TV’s next revision? I have low hopes.