Tinkerers have begun to take apart Apple’s new Apple TV set-top box to have a look at its guts. The results suggest that there is much more to the Apple TV than meets the eye.

From the outside, Apple TV resembles a big iPod. Like an iPod, it is intended to be used to store and play back (or in some cases stream) content downloaded directly from iTunes.

But according to tech blogger Andrew Schmitt, the Apple TV is not so much a big iPod as it is a stand-alone PC that could provide a platform for future applications that have yet to be revealed:

"The [Apple TV] is a full fledged mini-PC…The modest [Apple TV] hardware is general-purpose enough to equal the computing power of a 2-3 year old laptop, which means it is capable of doing pretty interesting stuff. While the [Apple TV] is a dumb, headless, media extender today, all of the hardware potential exists for this device to be a portal for web based computing. Apple will roll these features out over time."

If true, such a revealed features approach would be a clever way of managing expectations. Rather than hyping the Apple TV as a device that is meant to revolutionise the living room right out of the gate, only to scale back its ambitions later (as Microsoft did with the Xbox 360), Apple could simply unveil new features that have already been built in by issuing software upgrades. As Mr Schmitt writes:

"I can imagine… Joe consumer powers up hit iTV one day and suddenly he can play tetris, order pizza, you name it. The disruption to the telco incumbents is only just beginning." 

Given the mixed responses to Apple TV thus far, such talk may be premature.

March 27th, 2007 in Uncategorised | Permalink