I just finished watching Steve Jobs do his thing at MacWorld today
and was really excited to see the new-and-improved Apple TV (”Take 2)
which promises to revolutionize my home movie watching experience. It
mirrors the incredibly successful iPod/iTunes music ecosystem for
movies on the “Big Screen” in our living rooms. No need for a computer,
no need for DVDs, no need for Blu-ray, no need for VoD via your cable
box. Apple has signed up every major movie studio (huge inventory) and
Take 2 will elegantly deliver DVD and HD quality movies to your
favorite 56″ LCD 1080p screen.

(If you don’t want to watch it on your big screen HD-TV, you can
simply transfer your movie to your PC, iPod or iPhone for remote,
mobile viewing.)

When the original Apple TV launched last year I rushed to my local
Apple store to check it out. I was disappointed by its poor video
quality, poor movie selection and clunky interface. The overall
experience was sub-par. Jobs admitted this today. He said that Apple
had failed to inspire with rev 1.0 of Apple TV.

There is major competition in this space – competing with Apple is
Amazon and Netflix plus every cable provider and satellite provider
with their own VOD service.

David Card at Jupiter thinks that Take 2 will not be successful. His colleague Michael Gartenberg disagrees.

So, who’s right? What do you think? Card or Gartenberg?

I’m siding with Gartenberg on this one – this is a winner in my eyes:

• Ease of use (Apple’s elegant, exceptional experience)
• Breadth of content (Every major studio is already signed up and
  their entire collective catalog will become available on this device)
• Lets me watch it on my HD-TV the way I like to watch my movies (No
  need for a computer hookup, no need for DVDs, no need for an expensive
  Blu-ray, no need for VoD via your cable box)
• Choice of viewing device (When I’m traveling I can take my movies on my iPod or laptop)

David Feldt