Apple's New TV/Retail Advantage

Apparently apple has recently unveiled a new type of television experience. Essentially you can now buy an TV built by apple, and plug it into one of the adapters on your existing TV, the same inputs that are typically occupied by video game consoles. Instead of subscribing to ordinary cable programming (if I understood it correctly), you simply rent movies and television programming for what appears to be $.99 a program, much like purchasing songs or movies from itunes.

Will it be successful? At first glance it appears not. People are for the most part creatures of habit/routine, and are not susceptible to change very easily. Why would someone cancel his $60/month digital cable package simply for the ability to purchase television programs/movies for $.99/each? Why would he stray from his familiar cable package he's familiarized himself with for a number of years to explore this strange new technology? Why would he want to change at all?

The answer is that although it's a novel new device, the simple fact that it's an apple product could be enough to counterbalance the trepidations people have about change in general. Ten years, who would have thought that Apple was anything more than a anachronistic company that made computers people used in the early 1990s.

Well, since they've redefined the way we use computers, along with the ipod, which revolutionized the way we listen to music, and then dominated the phone market with the iphone, it seems Apple products are everywhere. People may start to believe they should be everywhere. If someone owns an Apple computer, ipod, and iphone, owning an Apple TV doesn't sound so strange anymore - it almost seems expected or normal. The seamlessness with which Apple enables its customers to use and enjoy its products makes this latest product easier to buy into.

And think about it, when comparing the typical $60/month digital cable television package with Apple's TV program and movie $.99 purchase option (assuming customers' regular program selections are available on the Apple TV), who is watching more than 60 hours of TV a month anyway these days?

Spencer Schoonenberg