Have you Heard of Apple TV?
Posted by Joseph Mignano on Saturday, February 11, 2012
Under: Marketing Strategy
I have heard of Google TV, but never Apple TV (until now). Apparently one can purchase an Apple TV unit and access anything they've downloaded to their iTunes account after they sync the devices (similar to uploading music onto an iPod) or items they've uploaded to iCloud. Items accessible include music, movies, TV shows, pictures, and more. Apple TV also has limited media streaming capabilities (but does not have the ability to purchase new media).
Besides this being another area Apple and Google are competing in (web browsing, mobile technology, and tablet computing soon), this interests me because it seems to be an area Google has an edge in. Apple TV is centered around previously downloaded media, and only allows users to consume new media in very limited circumstances (for example, one can not use Apple TV to download a new song - they would need to download the song on a different Apple device, and than manually sync their iTunes with Apple TV or upload the song to iCloud, which carries an annual fee).
Google, on the other hand, has no limitations on consuming new media and information through Google TV. In addition, every Google product is accessible via the cloud, making for a truly interactive experience for any consumer that has embraced Google's answer to Apple's products. Google users are never required to manually sync their devices, and have to do nothing extra to access media on multiple devices. In the case of the music download example, a Google user could purchase a new song through the Android Market and instantly have it uploaded to their cloud-based Google Music library (which carries no annual fee), all using Google TV.
Another striking difference between the two products is a stunning lack of web browsing capabilities with Apple TV (even though Apple has had a web browser, Safari, far longer than Google Chrome has been around for).
These two differences show that, while Apple is the industry standard when it comes to consuming media, Google actually has an edge when it comes to easy access to media (and in my mind, provides a better experience for their consumers).
Read more about the two products here:
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
http://www.google.com/tv/index.html
Besides this being another area Apple and Google are competing in (web browsing, mobile technology, and tablet computing soon), this interests me because it seems to be an area Google has an edge in. Apple TV is centered around previously downloaded media, and only allows users to consume new media in very limited circumstances (for example, one can not use Apple TV to download a new song - they would need to download the song on a different Apple device, and than manually sync their iTunes with Apple TV or upload the song to iCloud, which carries an annual fee).
Google, on the other hand, has no limitations on consuming new media and information through Google TV. In addition, every Google product is accessible via the cloud, making for a truly interactive experience for any consumer that has embraced Google's answer to Apple's products. Google users are never required to manually sync their devices, and have to do nothing extra to access media on multiple devices. In the case of the music download example, a Google user could purchase a new song through the Android Market and instantly have it uploaded to their cloud-based Google Music library (which carries no annual fee), all using Google TV.
Another striking difference between the two products is a stunning lack of web browsing capabilities with Apple TV (even though Apple has had a web browser, Safari, far longer than Google Chrome has been around for).
These two differences show that, while Apple is the industry standard when it comes to consuming media, Google actually has an edge when it comes to easy access to media (and in my mind, provides a better experience for their consumers).
Read more about the two products here:
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
http://www.google.com/tv/index.html
In : Marketing Strategy