Analyst Claims Content and Licensing are Holding Back Apple TV Set
Yesterday I wrote about Steve Jobs’ dream of bringing an Apple branded Smart TV to the public, an idea that was revealed in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the visionary who managed to transform so many aspects of our lives.
The release of the biography and the discovery of (possible) future Apple products, like an Apple TV, has stirred up the Internet rumor mill. One potential explanation for the current lack of an Apple TV comes from Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu, who says that the product is being held back by content and licensing deals.
Wu believes that Apple is aiming to offer a TV with customized programming, allowing people to follow the channels and shows that they prefer for a monthly fee. Wu cites this as a complicated issue, because of the necessity of making deals with several content providers. Licensing deals are dependent on the providers, making it impossible to determine exactly when Apple might be ready to release its own TV.
Potentially competing services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube could turn out to be a boon for Apple, because content providers are eager to circumvent the loss of expensive cable packages. A deal with Apple to provide content for a monthly fee may be a more appealing option than losing customers to cheaper services like those mentioned above.
According to Wu, one possible option that Apple could try is IPTV, which is television provided over IP based networks. IPTV is an option that would be inline with other Apple offerings like iTunes and iCloud, but it would be a serious undertaking in terms of bandwidth and storage.
While an Apple TV is seeming like a real possibility, Apple has a lot of work to do in order to make it a viable product. There may be no way to predict when an Apple TV will be available, but one thing is certain – we will continue to hear rumors about it until the day we can walk into an Apple Store and purchase one.
[via Electronista]