[hmurchison]

I think so.

For those that don't know Sonos is company that makes a very cool product that looks like something Apple would make. They make a whole house audio distribution product that uses wireless technology. They come in bundles that you can add to. So for instance the Z80 bundle ($999) contains two small Z80 ZonePlayer which accept the streaming music and deliver to your amplified speakers. The Z100 is a ZonePlayer that does the same thing but includes a built in amplifier so you simply attach speakers and is available in bundle form for $1199. You can play the same song in up to 32 user created zones or your can stream different songs to different zones using the Sonos Controller which resembles an iPod with a 3.5 inch screen and circular navigation and button controls.

The neat thing is that you can hook a CD up to one of the ZonePlayer and have its audio streamed throughout the home. It supports many of your popular internet music services like Audible and Rhapsody. The reviews of the Sonos system are absolutely glowing. If you've thought about how cool the rich and famous have it with their grandiose homes with audio piping into every room well your turn is here for $999 to start. That buys you a Sonos Controller and two Z80.

Now with that out of the way it's time to get to the topic at hand. Apple. As good as the Sonos system is I believe Apple is doing a clever end around and will be attacking this market. Note that the Sonos system is audio only and every device in a Sonos chain is more expensive than an Apple TV. The hint that Apple has given us clear. The Apple TV could have used a more simple and cheap design. It did not have to use OS X for or even contain a GPU (as all the video codec supported would work using the included CPU only including drawing the Quartz Frontrow interface.

The Apple TV seems a bit over-engineered for the purposes that it is marketed for today. I believe that that Apple will evolve the product in a couple of vital ways.

• They will eventually upgrade the Frontrow/Backrow software to support zones. You will be able to to listen or watch media anywhere you set a zone up. Even better in the media you watch will easily follow you to other zones. Want to pick up watching that episode of Heroes to the bedroom ..simply switch the zone and the Apple TV will begin to buffer only what is left on the bedroom zone Apple TV. Right now Apple have fooled everyone into thinking that the Apple TV only accepts streams but it has the design infrastructure to send out streams as well.
  
  
• Notice how the Apple TV does not have a LCD interface.? The TV must be on to navigate the music lists or queue up movies or photos. This is really gaffe in UI design similar to the frustrations DVD Audio owners faced with TV menus. I don't think Apple plans to keep the status quo going. By adding an "Apple TV Controller" Apple could enable control of 1 to many Apple TV without the need for the TV to be on. Even better they could utilize Multi Touch and offer Universal remote capabilities in addition to controlling music/movie/Photo distribution to the zones.
  
  
• The Apple TV will offer a full web browsing experience. This should usher in iTunes purchases, streaming internet radio and many other web tools. Now that the Apple TV is a peer computer on the network capable of streaming data as well as receiving it the ability to access online content becomes even more important.

I fully expect Apple TV to grow into a billion dollar product-line. Apple is deftly starting small yet clearly showing they have the Apple TV architecture to grow the product in new ways. Apple has to be thinking that they way to success is not selling one Apple TV to one family. It's selling multiple Apple TV to a family along with more accessories. Once a home distribution network is setup the Apple TV in essence becomes your onramp. What type of partnerships could Apple work out here. Tivo support? Does Apple need to create a DVR when a your current DVR content can simply be streamed throughout your network?

If Jim Dalrymple's family is already fighting over the Apple TV then clearly there's a need for multiple units. Developing a cohesive system becomes even more vital to Apple because their goal is have half of all songs on iTunes be DRM free within a year I believe. Apple is in a prime position to move forward and push the Digital Lifestyle into the networked age. Color me shocked if Apple doesn't move into this realm within 18 months.

[intlplby]

i think one lifecycle model which will come back to bite apple in the ass is the idea of not upgrading software components in previously sold products....

of course this is fine with computers but with set top boxes people are going to expect to get the latest software functionality on their ATV without buying a new one.....

if a family outfits most of their house with ATVs, it's gonna be pretty shitty when some new software feature is introduced that would work on their current ATVs, but they are forced to replace all of them to gain that function....

apple has shown that is has no intention of giving even the smallest features to previous generations of a hardware product even when it is only a matter of replacing the firmware/software... they've done this with the iPod a few times

Set top boxes != primary computers

[torifile]

apple has shown that is has no intention of giving even the smallest features to previous generations of a hardware product even when it is only a matter of replacing the firmware/software... they've done this with the iPod a few times

Oh, come on. Don't be ridiculous. Apple's added tons of functionality to older iPods via software updates. There have been a couple notable omissions, but I'd say it's probably a 50/50 split.

Come to think of it, I can only come up with 1 major change to iPod software that didn't work on the previous gen: search by letter. Am I missing something? Or are you suggesting that because Apple doesn't bring improvement to all generations of iPods, they're doing something wrong?

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by torifile Oh, come on. Don't be ridiculous. Apple's added tons of functionality to older iPods via software updates. There have been a couple notable omissions, but I'd say it's probably a 50/50 split. Come to think of it, I can only come up with 1 major change to iPod software that didn't work on the previous gen: search by letter. Am I missing something? Or are you suggesting that because Apple doesn't bring improvement to all generations of iPods, they're doing something wrong?

You're joking, right? My 2002 iPod hasn't had a firmware update since early 2003 at the latest. Now think of everything that's been added to iPods since early 2003 (except for the stuff requiring color screens). Quite a bit, eh? No search by letter. No building playlists on the iPod itself. There's more, but these are the two I would like on my 2G model and my wife's 3G model.

[dfiler]

Yeah, those bastards don't give me free stuff.

[cosus]

Damn StarWars. They added all this stupid CG in the original trilogy pisses me off. Glad they never had a remote update of the Laserdisc version.

[turbulentfurball]

Originally Posted by torifile Oh, come on. Don't be ridiculous. Apple's added tons of functionality to older iPods via software updates. There have been a couple notable omissions, but I'd say it's probably a 50/50 split.

I'm still waiting on a firmware update to make my mono iPod have colour. How long must I wait!

[torifile]

Originally Posted by bassplayinMacFiend You're joking, right? My 2002 iPod hasn't had a firmware update since early 2003 at the latest. Now think of everything that's been added to iPods since early 2003 (except for the stuff requiring color screens). Quite a bit, eh? No search by letter. No building playlists on the iPod itself. There's more, but these are the two I would like on my 2G model and my wife's 3G model.

How long do you reasonably expect Apple to continue to update older iPods or products? Like I said, there have been a few updates that didn't make into previous generations, but there have been quite a few that have. (And for all we know, there could have been significant under-the-hood changes that accompanied the obvious ones like the addition of a color screen and click-wheel.)

Off the top of my head:
- "shuffle songs" at the top of the menu hierarchy
- games on 5g iPods
- "roundtrip" bookmarking of podcasts and audiobooks
- "compilations" support
- calendar/contact syncing
- article-insensitive alphabetization (e.g., "The Roots" are under "R" and not "T")
- letter overlays when fast scrolling through lists
- updated codec support (and this is for all generations of iPods)

And these are just off the top of my head. I can think of a few changes that didn't make it but far fewer than the ones that did.