What else might Apple do?

Yeah, yeah. New iPhone coming June 9th. What have you done for me lately Apple? Ever since the iPod was released, Apple has been moving ever so slowly into consumer electronics. Heck, they even dropped “Computers” from their name. What do we have to show for it? An iPhone, the iPod Touch, the iPod Hi-Fi, some wireless routers, and the AppleTV. I may have missed one or two, but that’s about it. Of all of them, only the iPod Hi-Fi and the AppleTV can be a stand-alone, no computer attached consumer devices. The iPod Hi-Fi has gone off to that big “good product but missed it by…that…much” heaven. So that leaves the “where are the sales?” AppleTV.

The AppleTV isn’t a bad device (it’s actually kinda cool according to those who have bought one), it’s just got some features crippled that make it so much less than it could be. A so far useless USB port (for diagnostics? are you kidding me?), the fact that you can’t stream content from your iTunes accounts on other computers unless iTunes is running, a too small laptop-style hard drive (40 or 160GBs really isn’t enough), the remote is too small and since it only works with the AppleTV, you must use at least one other to control other components.

What would make it a must-buy for me? An easy to program multi-functional remote through USB for all the different parts and pieces of a typical home entertainment center, a larger/faster hard drive, multiple HDMI inputs to add game systems, optical drives (DVD/BluRay), or digital cable and the inputs controlled through FrontRow. Most low/mid-range HDTVs have at most just one or two HDMI ports and if you need more than that, you must get yet another box to interface them all with and yet another remote to control that.

Belkin and a few others sell USB programmable remotes, but Apple could make the whole experience pain-free and easy to set up. Many people use Microsoft’s Media Center (either XP or Vista) and it does work, but I doubt it’s anything that someone besides video/audiophiles could easily set up.

Some have mentioned Apple making TV’s. I just don’t see it. It’s highly competitive and the cost vs profit margins are becoming razor thin. Apple got away with it with the iPhone because they were able to partner with others for a share of the monthly fees and STILL charged an arm and a leg for it. Anyway, I can’t see many major TV makers wanting to partner up with Apple (and since Apple doesn’t own any manf facilities, that’s the only way they could make them) under those same kind of conditions.

There are other areas in consumer electronics that Apple could release products, but before we start talking about clock radios or iOvens, let’s remember the last product they released with great fanfare that died (rightfully so) a painful death. The iPod HiFi speaker system.
Apple needs to be very careful over what products they release with their name on it. It only takes one really bad product to destroy a reputation.