Apple has promised that it will upgrade its outclassed
Apple TV. The product was dubbed “fairly useless” when it hit the
shops and has been outclassed even by the Microsoft Xbox 360. The expensive
gizmo costs $229 compared to Roku’s $99 too.
Now analysts Piper Jaffray have publicly predicted that
Apple TV will get a software and hardware upgrade very soon. They believe Apple will integrate its TV
product with iTunes, offering a subscription service priced at $30 to $40 a
month for all-you-can watch telly.
Gene Munster,managing director and senior research analyst at Piper
Jaffray, claims it will not only pick up a live TV signal, but
also has DVR programming and can sync with a host of other Apple
products like
iPods, iPhones and Macs. All good stuff but is there any proof of this?
Only that
he has stick his balls very hugely on the line in making such a
prediction, and
some people think he must have been briefed by Apple to make such
claims.
Munster himself denies such a briefing and claims it is
all on the evidence. Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook stated just last
month that the company would continue to sink money into Apple TV because it
believes “there is something there for us in the future.” Apple has also
maintained patents dealing with digital video recording and has teamed up with
LG in a five-year, $500 million deal to produce LCD screens.
HP and Dell have wandered into this territory and walked
out again. Apple has had its own problems working in the telly
market. Margins in the TV market are incredibly low, particularly at the moment
and Apple loves high margins. We guess it all makes sense.