
DirecTV: Apple TV won’t “obsolete our technology” - iProject
http://gigaom.com/apple/directv-apple-tv-wont-obsolete-our-technology/
======
raganwald
Palm CEO Ed Colligan discussing Apple’s imminent release of the iPhone in
2006:

    
    
      Responding to questions from New York
      Times correspondent John Markoff at a
      Churchill Club breakfast gathering
      Thursday morning, Colligan laughed off
      the idea that any company — including
      the wildly popular Apple Computer —
      could easily win customers in the
      finicky smart-phone sector.
    
      “We’ve learned and struggled for a few
      years here figuring out how to make a
      decent phone,” he said. “PC guys are not
      going to just figure this out. They’re
      not going to just walk in.”
    

<http://daringfireball.net/2006/11/colligan_head_stuck>

------
silverlight
I bet that's exactly what Blackberry thought right before the iPhone came out,
too. Not saying it will be that level of game changer (or that it even
exists), but I think we've seen incumbents are notoriously bad at predicting
when a new technology or competitor is about to take their business away from
them.

~~~
jws
It's probably also what Sega and Sony said before Pippin[1] came out.

I think there is room for a game change. From the juggling of remotes, to the
horrific user interfaces[2], and just plain broken device interfaces[3]. The
industry tolerates user abuse.

EOM

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Bandai_Pippin>

[2] Toggling subtitles in less than 18 remote presses would be a nice feature.
I'm looking at you AT&T.

[3] If I have had the same TV plugged into the same DVR for 2 years, it
probably should stop choosing random resolutions and aspect ratios and just
stick with the one I move it back to three times a week. Also 10 seconds seems
like a long time to switch from one HDMI input to another. Audio that is
synchronized to the picture, like in 1950, would be pretty cool too.

------
MatthewPhillips
AppleTV is a middle of the row product in the set-top space in terms of
software. Perhaps they have been holding back and now have something
revolutionary. Who knows.

It would take a blow-me-away type of product for them to truly crack open this
industry. In away where they could force the hand of cable companies like they
did with AT&T. So it's going to be interesting to see what this hype is all
about.

~~~
bgramer
They aren't directly forcing the hand of cable tv companies, which is quite
clever, imho.

We, the Developers will be tasked to do that with our content and that starts
whenever they introduce APIs, likely to be this year's WWDC. Once we've built
out Apps in the AppleTV app ecosystem, the consumer demand will follow.

The TV Channel/Show/Content is now an on-demand App. This will all coalesce
slowly as people continue to unplug and switch over via internet as content is
made available. I don't want to make any predictions about the AppleTV box vs
iPanel but my guess is that both will coexist - with AppleTV box offering the
best UX within its bubble while the iPanel will offer a more integrated
comprehensive experience. Both utilize the same App ecosystem.

Apple has been laying the foundation for a while. Download the iOS remote
control, play with any of the AirPlay functions, the regular tweaks to
AppleTV's OS, etc... It's all right under our noses.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Who are "we the developers" in this scenario? This has already been played out
on other platforms. Vimeo, Revision3, etc. will jump at the chance of reaching
AppleTV devices but CBS, ESPN, AMC, etc. will not.

~~~
bgramer
Your background is primarily in Chrome and Android - are you sure your reply
to my post isn't biased?

I use that term to include anyone who develops for the iOS platform and wants
to develop an App for AppleTV. Feel free to take yourself out of that.

How do you know that Apple hasn't created new parterships for their upcoming
efforts? Do you have AppleTV? Have you noticed a slow growth in subscribing to
new content? You can even purchase it In-App if you'd like.

There's many different potential ways to challenge the incumbent Cable TV
business model. Don't assume that top-tier content producers are not
interested. By the looks of what I'm seeing on AppleTV today, they are slowly
coming on board.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
You are mistaken on my background, and I have no preference on whether future
Apple TVs succeed or fail.

What are you seeing on Apple TV that suggests that cable channels are going to
embrace an alternative to cable?

------
vinayan3
Netflix was really close to disrupting Cable TV. Unfortunately, the cable
providers and satellite providers can pay more to the content producers. I
imagine that Showtime left Netflix because they realized the cable fees
brought in more cash. Someone is going to have to show Internet distribution
will result in more profits.

DirecTV's technology is already obsolete to be honest. Their ability to make
changes is so slow.

------
corkill
DirecTV: Apple TV won’t “obsolete our technology”.

Maybe, maybe not but they will obsolete your customer base.

