AppleTV Reinvented

Some things Apple could do to dramatically redefine TV.

- Buy EchoStar - current market cap $1.8B - Apple could possibly buy it for $2.5B + debt. With EchoStar, they get nationwide Satellite Network, as well as IP to Sling Media. Convert Apple TV to be the Set-Top box for Dish Network. This is likely to be the easiest option for Apple, rather than negotiate with cable networks.

- Change to iPhone OS4 - opens up entire App Store.

- iPodTouch with IR Transceiver as Universal Remote. Should be usable as Remote, Keyboard, Microphone (for Video Conference) etc. EPG should be displayed on the iPodTouch.

- Multi-player gaming - AppleTV should be capable of creating an ad-hoc network with multiple iPodTouch units, for multi-player gaming.

- Offer an optional iControl unit for $99 - basically, iPodTouch with minimal flash, minimal RAM, lower end processor, 480x320 multi-touch OLED display.

- Open up USB port, with support for Web Cam and external storage. Video Conferencing would be a great application. External storage only for Personal Media - cannot be used for DVR.

- Offer an optional motor-panning 1080P iSight camera for $199 (panning and zoom controllable using the iControl remote).

- Instead of using low power A4, use full power chips, or even dual A4 chips, to support 1080P seamlessly, including 1080P videoconferencing (if customer has adequate bandwidth).

- Local DVR Functionality. DVR to be controlled from EPG on iPodTouch. DVR requests, etc to be stored on MobileMe - so user can setup recording remotely. User can also delete shows from MobileMe remotely, to clear up space on the local disk.

- Cloud DVR Functionality - customer can pay $10 extra per month to have access to ANY SHOW he wants, available at anytime streamed from the cloud. Cloud DVR shows would be available only for 1 week. If user wants longer term recording, he can copy content from Cloud DVR to local DVR. If the user does not want Cable TV, he can just pay $30 per month and get all his programs from the Cloud DVR, along with targeted rich interactive ads using iAd. But he won't get any live content - like Sports, news, etc.

- Integrated support for PlaceShifting (SlingBox functionality) - using MobileMe. Moment user logs into MobileMe and wants to watch either Live or recorded content, the local stream is turned off. Any content that is also available on the cloud would be streamed from the cloud rather than the source AppleTV, for bandwidth efficiency.

- Sell 3rd party licenses for Game Controllers - Steering wheels, Joysticks, Tennis Rackets, etc.

- Sell 3rd party licenses to integrate AppleTV directly into consumer electronics.

- YouTube competitor - Create a free videos section within iTunes, where users can upload their own videos for sharing with others. Customers can optionally also charge for their uploaded videos, with the usual 70:30 revenue sharing. Apple already has massive library of copyright content, it would be easy to use technology like Shazam to see if any user uploaded content violates copyright of any other content. With such a check, studios would prefer iTunes over YouTube. Can be integrated with rich interactive iAds, for revenue.

- Package AppleTV with 2 iControl units and one iSight HD camera for $599 - or for $199 with 2 year Cable TV contract at $49 per month or $399 with 2 year Cloud DVR only contract.

The main idea is to make full use of the ecosystem that already exists - and create cross-selling opportunities for other parts of the ecosystem. For instance, if the user wants remote DVR functionality or place shifting functionality, he/she has to get MobileMe. For the remote, s/he has to get iPodTouch. Since the unit supports multi-player gaming, there is an incentive to get multiple iPodTouches for the entire family. Cloud DVR would use iTunes. Interactive targeted advertising using iAd would dramatically change the way people look at advertisements. Could even support features like instant feedback on ads - so that the marketer knows how the ad is being received, by which demographic.