Apple TV

Analyst Andy Hargreaves said this morning that he believes an “Apple Television would be ‘extremely unlikely’ in the near term.” Not that I disagree with his assertion, but the way he arrived at it is a bit sketchy to me.

He came to the conclusion after a meeting with Apple’s Eddy Cue. Basically Cue said Apple will enter a market when its damn good and ready and there are problems with the current television setup. These are the same things Steve Jobs said publicly about television, so there is really nothing new there.

We also don’t know what “near term” is. Next week, next month, two years from now. Hargreaves note just seemed odd to me and not based on anything factual.

Apple aims to make it so viewers can watch any show at any time via a cloud-based DVR that would store TV shows online. The service would be designed so viewers could begin streaming a show minutes after it began airing live.

Where do I pay?

Matthew Panzarino:

Apple has begun talks in preparation for a set-top box device that could be used to watch live TV as well as view other content, reports Jessica E. Vascellaro and Shalini Ramachandran at The Wall Street Journal.

This would apparently be a new direction that would let Apple get a stronger presence in the living room It would involve them getting deals with cable providers, which the report says has not happened.

Arnold Kim:

Apple has quietly launched a Hulu Plus channel on Apple TV this morning.

You have to reboot for the channel to appear.

Todd Bishop:

Apple sold 1.3 million Apple TV devices during the June quarter, an increase of 170 percent over the same quarter a year ago.

That still qualifies as a “hobby,” according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who disclosed the number in response to an analyst’s question on the company’s earnings conference call. But here’s an interesting data point: Microsoft sold 1.1 million Xbox 360s worldwide during the same time period.

Doesn’t mean anything, but still interesting.