Apple's Next Big Thing: Home Entertainment

Page 1 of 5

The "Apple Death Knell Counter" is rather stagnant these days. A fixed feature on Mac enthusiast site the Mac Observer, the counter lists all the pundits who have predicted the death of Apple in some form or another. The rules are strict: It's not enough just to say that Apple sales might sag or that Steve Jobs faces major challenges. No, qualifying for a space requires a pronouncement of pretty absolute death of either the Macintosh computer or Apple the company. And only a few tenacious and infamously contrarian souls have dared to venture such opinions lately.

On Tap For The Digital Living Room The Job-Less Factor Music Phones: What Has Apple Got Up Its Sleeve? Media Distribution Rights: Here Come The Judges (And Congress) The Complicated Web Of Content Licensing

"It's fairly easy to see where Apple is going," says Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Co. "The home is the next major battleground between a diverse set of players--whether they are PC companies or consumer electronics firms--and Apple intends to be an aggressive participant."

Indeed, digital media servers for home use are starting to emerge as a significant product category, with more than 50 million units expected to be sold in 2010, according to market research firm Parks Associates. A digital media server is defined as a networked device with a hard drive and software for distributing media to various locations throughout the home--and it's a market that Apple is determined to dominate, according to analysts.

The timing of when that will happen is uncertain, however.

"Apple in the living room will be the story of 2008," says Gene Munster, managing director and a senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray. "They're very serious about making it a reality. But it won't be this year, or even the next."

The Digital Home Entertainment Ecosystem: A Snapshot

So what exactly would a digital home entertainment system look like? Although varying scenarios abound, there are some attributes that everyone agrees on. The key issue is one of interoperability: the movies or music broadcast via your satellite or cable connection must be easily and reliably captured and viewed on your TV, PC, or portable media device.

Ditto any media that you create yourself, or which you purchase and download. Content should be easily transferred between media players, no matter what type, or where they happened to be in the house. Preferably, all this will be wireless, eliminating the need for the cables and wires that currently clutter up living rooms. And--this is one of the most critical aspects--it would all be done legally (see Media Distribution Rights: Here Come The Judges (And Congress)).

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Next >>

Tweet

   

More