Digital Disruption

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)

Tweet This Post