With talk of (NASDAQ: )'s just-released Apple TV shaking up another entertainment industry (the broadcast TV one), I have to wonder if that can happen in the short term.It's true that Apple's iPod led to a complete redefinition of how consumers "consume" their music -- while the traditional recording industry struggled to change from the format of physical media to digital music files. In standard fashion, Apple helped the music industry see that it's now even time to see music without consumer-limiting digital copy protection -- this morning. Well, last night in London, actually.
Will Apple's Apple TV change television distribution like the iPod changed music distribution? Once content outside the Apple ecosystem is available to be channeled through the small and diminutive Apple TV box, odds are that . As in: consumers buying just the programming they want ( la carte) and even creating content to be shared with the world and their Apple TV boxes, YouTube-style -- but on your normal TV set (well, HDTV), not that small computer monitor that YouTube is usually confined to.
The challenge here is creating the reasons for the consumer to buy the $299 Apple TV when programming is so plentiful already -- but it's also costly. Why pay that $90 cable or satellite bill when you really only consume about 15% of that entertainment? It's money out the window for most, and once consumers realize that, the Apple TV could be the conduit that lets consumers "compete" with the likes of NBC Studios, Viacom, News Corp.
and other media giants.
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.. Now, that would bring a ton of content (and a ton of new customers, including me) to the party and create some serious momentum.
...
Is this really a dumb idea?
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