Apple to revolutionalize Video and the humble TV

September 11th, 2006 · No Comments

While Microsoft continues to stumble in consumer electronics, Apple is going from strength to strength based largely on Steve Jobs almost messianic devotion to improve the home consumer experience. While pundits are busy arguing over corporate PCs and “Windows owns 95% of the desktop market”, Jobs sees his role as nothing short of completely reinventing home entertainment in his likeness.

Jobs feels that the Corporate PC market is a no win game, a low margin street fight for the hearts and minds of the cubicle. I believe that in his heart, this is not the game they should and can fight. Instead the future of the PC is not as a PC, but as a hub for a consumer communications and entertainment platform for the home. This market is a much larger and more profitable business for Apple (which they have been very successful so far). Windows in contrast is uniquely unsuited for this market because of it’s success in the corporate market. The corporate market is responsible for over 90% of Microsoft’s profits and it is these profits that Microsoft has to protect and indeed is why Vista, Office, SQL Server etc are so much more important that the consumer market.

Furthermore, Jobs, a self confessed Audiophile has on a number of occasions expressed vocal dis-satisfaction over the current state of technology in the home, and more importantly the ability for the average person to access. Jobs vision for the home is broad as it is innovative and video is at the heart of this. The reasons for this are straight forward. While there remains a gap between the audio system, the video system and the data system (PC) in terms of function, ease of use and reach, you have a potential for integration.

However integration faces challenges. In the same way audio equipment had to work towards interoperability, the same go across entertainment devices. This glue is Internet Protocol (IP), Wireless Technology and AV inputs such as HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface).
Tommorrow in San Francisco we are going to see the next step in the future vision of Apple and Jobs for home consumer electronics. This announcement will be the beginning of the next phase for Apple, maybe the end of the beginning.

The emphasis is going to be on Video and the next layer of video infrastructure in the home. Apple has been quietly build the key infrastructure necessary to deliver two core entertainment elements into the home. The first is audio, the second is video.

Here are the five things you are going to see from Apple over the next 18 Months:

Apple will move the new Macs to a/b/g and n Wifi. The new Airport Express will support interfaces for Audio and Video connectivity. These two will allow for Video Integration into the home network.
The new Apple HDTVs will have ISight Video Cameras as standard. This will allow you to use the TV as an iChat Client.
The new Apple Phones will be integrated into iChat (called iChat Mobile). This will be the start of a comprehensive VoIP network for MacIntosh Users. (Read Here)
Apple will get into the Peer to Peer VoIP/Video market with some very compelling Consumer features based around the iChat System including federation with Google through XMPP.
Front Row will be extended to support Music (Itunes), Movie download and Streaming, IChat Connectivity as well a number of initiatives from high end audio vendors such as Bose, Altec, Yamaha etc to integrate their audio offerings (pray it is the Bose LifeStyle System) into the Front Row System.

The rest they say it history.

Bob Cringely has a great discussion on this subject here and (updated) here.

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