Upgrade 642: iOS is Weird Now

More thoughts on the Apple TV.

So you wrote an article about the $299 Apple TV.

Yes.

Basically, in which you said that it used to be easier to recommend this product than it is right now.

Yeah.

I wrote a piece.

There's an analyst who wrote this piece saying that at 2.49, the Apple TV was dead.

or 200 to start, or whatever, and 249 for the high end, and it was dead.

And I said, well, that's silly, because it's not all about market share, and Apple's looking for a very particular market share.

Anyway, I wanted to revisit that and say, like, bottom line, you know, All TVs come with an app platform now.

And so there used to be the streamer box market involved a lot of low-cost boxes or sticks that you would attach in order to make your TV be capable of playing streaming services.

It's just not true anymore.

Everything comes with one.

So now the market is people who care enough about streaming to get something better than the crappy one that comes through TV.

And I think that's a much smaller market.

I think most people just don't care.

The sad truth is most people just don't care about quality.

They just take what they're given.

And I mean, do I sound bitter? Well, I sound like a Mac user from the 90s.

I learned my lesson very early on with the arrival of Windows 95, especially in the rise of the dominance of Windows PCs, that most people just take what they're given and don't care.

And then some people care.

And that's a smaller market.

So that's the market for streamer boxes now, I would argue.

Essentially, it's people who actually care, and it's much smaller.

And I think Apple can play in that market.

More thoughts on the Apple TV.

So you wrote an article about the $299 Apple TV.

Yes.

Basically, in which you said that it used to be easier to recommend this product than it is right now.

Yeah.

I wrote a piece.

There's an analyst who wrote this piece saying that at 2.49, the Apple TV was dead.

or 200 to start, or whatever, and 249 for the high end, and it was dead.

And I said, well, that's silly, because it's not all about market share, and Apple's looking for a very particular market share.

Anyway, I wanted to revisit that and say, like, bottom line, you know, All TVs come with an app platform now.

And so there used to be the streamer box market involved a lot of low-cost boxes or sticks that you would attach in order to make your TV be capable of playing streaming services.

It's just not true anymore.

Everything comes with one.

So now the market is people who care enough about streaming to get something better than the crappy one that comes through TV.

And I think that's a much smaller market.

I think most people just don't care.

The sad truth is most people just don't care about quality.

They just take what they're given.

And I mean, do I sound bitter? Well, I sound like a Mac user from the 90s.

I learned my lesson very early on with the arrival of Windows 95, especially in the rise of the dominance of Windows PCs, that most people just take what they're given and don't care.

And then some people care.

And that's a smaller market.

So that's the market for streamer boxes now, I would argue.

Essentially, it's people who actually care, and it's much smaller.

And I think Apple can play in that market.