Steve Jobs on TV: 'no one wants to buy a box'
By Ross Miller 
posted June 1st 2010 10:56PM
posted June 1st 2010 10:56PM
"Hi, I'm from Hillcrest Labs... do you think it's time to throw out the interface for TV? When will Apple do something there?"
The problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go to market strategy. The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set top box for free. So no one wants to buy a box. Ask TiVo, ask Roku, ask us... ask Google in a few months.
So all you can do is ADD a box to the TV. You just end up with a table full of remotes, a cluster of boxes... and that's what we have today. The only way that's going to change is if you tear up the set top box, give it a new UI, and get it in front of consumers in a way they're going to want it. The TV is going to lose in our eyes until there is a better go to market strategy... otherwise you're just making another TiVo. [you can't just partner with providers because] providers are local... it's a Tower of Babel problem...
Next up: "Steve Job's sex life is pretty good"
@skyblaze
(why did i make that comment... i'm getting really really bad images now... i'll be seeing my therapist Thursday)
@skyblaze
'Twas a bit random, wasn't it?
@skyblaze
Have you seen his wife?
I would have said the same...
@Nitesh
indeed it was... and at this point it really wouldn't surprise me if Engadget made the article on Alt or something...
@SolidSnake
*googles steve jobs wife*
http://www.dennis-voss.de/apple/celeb/img/2.jpg
*music from psycho plays*
sorry... not feelin' the envy, dood..........
@skyblaze
LOL.
What is wrong with you? :P
@skyblaze I'm not trying to be cruel but he looked horrible. He probably shouldn't be having sex or doing anything more strenuous than aimlessly scrolling back and forth on an iPad.
@skyblaze
I thought Apple TV was a box.....
@skyblaze I have no idea why he said it, but it did make me crack up.
"No body needs to be told what they do or don't want" (wait, i think i just contradicted myself)
@SolidSnake
i guess it has something to do with the fact that i'm 19
http://media.tzaam.com/images/full/ku.jpg
@skyblaze Wonder if he got iPorn on his iPad
@skyblaze Aw, come on man, I think he did a pretty good job for a crusty old dude. :P
@The Garbage Man
I like my box. My HTPC crushes anything out there. Nobody wants HIS box - we get that. But set-top boxes are hardly evil. Tivo has managed to do just fine. DVR's seem pretty popular.
Apple isn't in the TV space yet. So, for now TV's are irrelevant. One should only view content on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, or one of the many quality iMac's/Mac Books that are on the market today.
@The Garbage Man
Did you read the story?
@skyblaze He actually perfectly made Google's case. Google TV is a platform, not a box like the Apple TV. It will come with your satalite packages, in your high end tv, in your Blueray player, etc.
What a chump.
I love how Jobs makes these blanket comments. "Nobody reads anymore", "Nobody wants to buy a box", "Nobody breathes anymore".
@Son Goku
All CEO's talk this way...
(see what I did there??)
@Son Goku
Fuuuuuuuu! sion! Haaaaaaaaaaaa!
Do the fusion dance!
@Son Goku
apple proceeds to release the ipad, the new rumored apple tv, and the new, magical, revolutionary oxygen tank
@Son Goku
Nobody likes Google.
Nobody owns a PC.
Nobody hates iPhone.
Everybody loves our products.
@Son Goku
SJ never said no one reads anymore your flamer. He said we didn't read enough to justify 300 bucks on a ........single function device (Kindle).
Hence.. the iPad. 2 million units in 2 months.
@Son Goku : Politicians talk that way everyday without providing any facts and are never challenged. "...The American people don't want blah, blah, blah". :| If you say it enough times, people start to believe you.
@Son Goku Regardless of how you frame his comments, I think he has a pretty good sense about these things.
The set-top box system, medusa of cords and amount of remotes we all own are ready for some real streamlining. How many times have you been at a someones house fiddling with their remotes wondering "how the !@#$ do I watch cinemax!"
Honestly, I would love to see an all-inclusive system like the iMac. Single-source, anti-component, intuitive.
Just a thought.
@Son Goku
i got a box it's called..Xbox 360!
@omf
that's hilarious. You're kind of clever, aren't you?
@Son Goku
Yeah, generalisations are bad. Right?
@Floppy Yeah, that sounds great! Give apple total control over my living room, let them DRM all the content I consume to hell and back, and have them monitor all my content so they can get rid of anything they don't approve of. I'm tired of thinking for myself anyway.
/s
Apple has a long and proven track record of nannying their users. Having half a dozen different components from different companies isn't particularly efficient, but it also means that no one company has control over my TV. I won't be handing that control over to apple (the least trustworthy of the bunch) any time soon.
@travisonfire The box with a jet engine for a fan!
Yeah... thats how to enjoy watching video is the sweet hum of background noise.
Just dont watch too long or the RROD will ruin your viewing experience.
@Floppy That's actually what Google is building (which is part of the reason that this kind of seems silly in the end). Sure, it's another box under the TV (if you don't get a new TV with it built in), but the major difference is that this box controls all your other boxes. So no need for 5 remotes. Just the one controlling the Google box. And that's why Jobs MIGHT be wrong with this statement.
if they make articles for everything steve jobs says outside the liveblog, they blew it.
because Steve knows what everyone wants...ok guy
@TheEdge thats my main gripe with him. he assumes he knows whats best for everybody.
@iName Well, so far the market isn't proving him wrong.
@avinash240
So true. Be it by marketing, product, the reality distortion field, hype, the iTunes ecosystem that keeps people locked in, or whatever, it seems most of the market is eating out of Apple's hands.
@avinash240
Nobody reads anymore? I think he might have backtracked on that statement there *cough* iPad and NYTimes *cough*
@avinash240 Really? More people are not buying Apple than are. Sure, Apple are successful and are becoming more successful as time goes on but they've hardly cornered the market on gadgetry/computers, whatever the fanboys like to think.
@TheEdge I'm not your guy, budy!
@noodles2k or buddy, even
Yeah, I'd totally love to have an unupgradeable television set instead of an easily replaceable box, allowing me to keep my television I'm already very happy with. Oh wait, hi internet-connected TVs from 2008.
@MoreGoogleAds Ask people who sell DVD players... or those who used to sell video cassette players. Nobody bought those things.
@ViewtifulJason
Exactly. I want my multi thousand dollar TV to give me the best possible picture... and that is all.
@leonardlow What it comes down to is no one wanted Apple's box, and Google TV has gotten more attention in a month than Apple TV has in for 12+months so he goes and says no one wants a box.
@ViewtifulJason: You aren't reading what he said. He's saying no one wants to buy a box. "Buy" is the operative word. He points out that the cable company gives you a box for "free" (at least the initial one), so why pay out of pocket for an additional one (TiVo, and its monthly service, being an excellent example)?
Therefore, to convince people that they want to buy a box (as opposed to have one given to them for "free"), things have to change with the box in question.
@galfridus73
People would buy a box no problem. Most people are too stupid to manage software, but they can figure out how to plug something in. The problem with "boxes" is that they don't provide content. Apple TV's pay for shit you get for free model is why it fails, not because its a box. Boxee promises content off the internet not always for free but at least unified. If it gets provider support (HBO for instance) you can bet people would buy it.
@galfridus73
Who wants to buy a box?
Anyone interested in games or content. Thus you have game consoles, VCRs, DVDs and DVRs.
You can't escape the boxes, even if you think you get yours for free.
A means to dump the boxes would be nice. Although I don't think he's actually saying anything constructive about this. Cable Card kind of started out as the right idea and then got badly hijacked.
As others have said: this is about how no one wants to buy Steve's box. They will readily buy the means to access Netflix streaming but Steve is effectively locked out because of his approach to the technology.
I'm thinking the next iteration of AppleTV is a touchscreen "smart" remote, based on his comments. That would change the game a bit, IMO.
@Hemlocke so an iPhone/iPod/iPad????
@Hemlocke Yeah, I think that would work, except for that whole flash problem of course. Take an iPad. Build WiDi into it so I can project whatever I'm watching onto the TV. Tada! Now if only there were a Hulu app for the iPad we'd be all set. You could even click on ads 'n shit if need be. Maybe that's what the 'new' Apple TV actually is, e.g. a remote display for your iPhone/iPad...?