Apple has been forcing it’s partners to accept lower prices in favour of a flat-rate fee to the customer for a long time and for once the consumer is benefitting through a fair price for media (at least for music anyway) compared to the over-inflated CD album prices to date (especially compared to vinyl and the associated production costs). In reality though we’re still paying over the odds for what amounts to NO physical product, but this is less perceived than the difference between a 12″ album with a big cardboard sleeve and a tiny cheap plastic disc in a plastic case (CD).

I’m not sure how the video sales will pan out for Apple, although there’s no barrier stopping consumers choosing their download site(s) and then shifting those downloaded movies to their Apple-oriented digital media hub. It’s at most a simple format conversion and there are already plenty of freeware solutions available to do this quickly.

AppleTV (as it stands currently) is an easy to use device, but also big with the modders (many have jumped over from XBox Media Centre modding) being as it is just a stripped down Mac. I should imagine Apple will be watching the mod scene closely to see what’s most popular and may well integrate some of those ideas in future software updates (they’ve started to do this with the iPhone already). It’s a clever strategy that cuts down on development costs - you only need to add the apps that people are really using and can forget adding hundreds of never-used utils.

If you’re in the market for an Apple-based PVR, you could do much worse than considering the Mini as a media hub (I’ve just gone this route as my TV’s still a CRT until it dies and I replace with LCD - so the DVI out is better for me than just HDMI/Component). It has built-in digital video/audio output (just need a DVI-HDMI converter lead and an optical audio lead), but additional features such as multiple USB ports (additional storage, mouse/kbd etc) and it has the must haves such as the remote for Front Row. I’ve invested in a USB Elgato digital tuner and EyeTV software (ties in to Front Row/Media Central etc) for my PVR needs and the online programme guides are great for setting up recording whole series in advance. You can also use Applescripts attached to your recordings folder to perform actions such as ‘delete after X days’ or get more advanced and include options to move certain programmes to folders on another drive on the network - great little hub, AND it’s a full-blown Mac so you can always go surfing if you’re bored, or play a game (if it’s not too gfx heavy… it is only a mini!).

I think Don’s comment about ‘Ease of Use’ is an pertinent factor. Apple are shifting their brand away from just ‘computer company’ to be a mainstream home appliance manufacturer. This may explain their focus on this ease of use - after all, you don’t generally need much experience to use a washing machine or a stereo!

Perhaps this spreading of their customer base is less of an achilles heel and more a case of ‘fingers in as many pies as possible’. If one business area fails, the company is less likely to fail as a whole.

To have been through some of the rough times they have and yet come back fighting so hard that they have a share value at todays prices would suggest they’re market-savvy enough to be looking very long term at the strategies and planning for multiple eventualities.

Interesting piece though.

PS: There’s also the ‘fan’ factor to include with Apple (just as there was… er… still IS with Commodore - see the underground C64 and Amiga scenes still going all these years later). Even if a product fails and they hit a slump in sales, there’s a very loyal userbase in place who will continue to buy the products. They’ve been lucky to have such an established niche in the high-end media markets for design/advertising/film/music etc. This is almost a guaranteed money-maker for them even if the consumer divisions wane. No matter what the mass consumer market does, those of us in the Creative sectors will continue to buy Macs because they’re still the best and most stable machines for what we do (in such a hectic deadline oriented sector where you can’t afford downtime) and as such work out with a cheaper TOC than the average PC. I administer all the Macs/PCs in our studio and I have to say that even though the Macs outnumber the WinPCs 10:1, the 3 or 4 Win PCs around the office have had more downtime in the past couple of years than all of the Macs combined (past and present) have had over the past 15 years… without exaggeration. This to me is a huge selling point when it comes to buying a computer - how much time will I spend fixing it and how much time being productive? So I for one will continue buying their products whilst their products continue to get the job done more efficiently (and until there’s viable Linux alternatives for some of my applications, which is where I’ll start saving MORE money) - it’s simple economics for my scenario.

Anyway… I’ve gone on for far too long, Peace!

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/12/12/second_gen_iphone_in_final_phase_apple_tv_update_planned_report.html

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/top/vudu-video-wonderbox-picture-walkthrough-and-review-just-short-of-wonderful-297309.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/technology/circuits/06pogue.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

It is early days, but I think you underestimate the potential of the combination of AppleTV v2 (or future revisions) and the movie store along with new indie media like vidcasts and Youtube.