Heard of Apple TV? A lot of people have not. That is because even though Steven Jobs helped upend so many businesses with a string of groundbreaking products in music, mobile phones, games and tablet computers, he barely made a dent in television.
Under Jobs, Apple dipped its toe only slightly into the television business with Apple TV, a set-top box for accessing Internet video. That product has been one of the rare disappointments in its lineup, especially when compared with smashes like the iPhone and iPad. But many in the tech industry contend that television is ripe for technological makeover , and that the next big challenge for Apple, after the death of Jobs, is likely to be in that area . "It's the big area they haven't colonized," said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research.
"It's the thing we spend more of our time on than sleep." In the meantime, companies like Microsoft have started to take a stronger leadership role in helping to push the technology of television forward, as Apple did in areas like music and mobile phones. TV is such a tantalizing target in part because people spend so many hours watching it, but also because the industry over all has been slow to innovate except perhaps in making screens larger.
In particular, the consuming public is still waiting for television content - everything that people watch - to be delivered over the Internet in a convenient, affordable package on all the devices people are now using. One big reason for Apple's failure to gain traction in television is that Apple TV has not had a compelling source of TV and movie content that allows the product to stand out. Although its iTunes store is stocked with many popular shows like "Glee" and "Sons of Anarchy," network and movie studio executives have hesitated to make all of their content widely available at attractive prices, in large part over concerns about angering cable companies , a big source of their revenue , and their pipeline into living rooms.
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