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A Mac mini for the living room? Now things are really getting interesting...

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 29, 2005

OK, they’ve already been pretty interesting in Apple Land. There’s the nearly thirty million iPods sold since 2001, the rewriting of the rules for tech retailing, the gains in PC market share, the new push into video. And let’s not forget Apple’s stock price—which has more than doubled so far this year.

And yet for all its success, Apple has only given hints of its plans for what may be its biggest opportunity of all: the digital living room. With almost every form of entertainment that doesn't require physical activity moving into the digital realm, there's a new $200 billion-plus digital media/consumer electronics industry taking shape. And no company has more of the requisite skills to succeed here than Apple--the industrial design expertise, the gut feel for consumers' desires, not to mention bonafides in hardware, software and content delivery. Yes, Microsoft is staking out valuable turf with its Xbox 360, as will Sony when it delivers the Playstation 3. But so far, at least, these are game machines that happen to do other things as well, such as playing DVDs or sharing digital pics. Should Apple put its mind to creating hardware and services for watching movies and playing music from the sofa, I doubt these consoles could match the consumer experience. (I'd call such a device an iTheatre, but that name has been taken by folks who are working on an open-source solution to this opportunity.)

If ThinkSecret is right, we'll get a better view of Apple's plans come Macworld. They're reporting that Apple will announce a Mac mini designed to be a digital hub, and possibly a PVR to boot. Equipped with "Front Row" and an iPod dock, it certainly sounds promising to this potential customer.

And it's all the more promising given Apple's great track record in recent years for refusing to release half-baked products. Almost all of its new offerings in the past half-decade--notably the iPod--have provided a standout consumer experience, and no Apple product has been booed off the market since the PowerMac G4 Cube in 2000. Of course, extending that record with a product for the living room is a massive challenge--in many ways far more complex than cranking out a new Mac, Powerbook or even a new kind of portable device. There are daunting user interface issues, content managment issues, home networking and storage issues. But if Jobs really has the product ThinkSecret describes--and if he is really ready to release it--chances are Apple will have lots of competitors scrambling to keep up.

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Reader Comments

Chris

November 30, 2005 04:18 PM

The G4 Cube was a great machine! It wasn't booed off the market, they just priced it too high. The technology hadn't matured to the point where they could make a decent computer that small and keep the price down. Here we are 5 years later and the Mac Mini is even smaller, more powerful and far less expensive because the technology finally caught up with the design.

Rory

November 30, 2005 08:03 PM

I agree with Chris' comment, and fear that price may keep Apple out of the living room. When a 40-hour Tivo is only $50, a $600+ dollar Apple device may be a tough sell. Sure it will do more, but if you've already got a computer it may be hard to justify. Believe me, there's no one who wants this rumor to be true more than me, but I just don't see it happening, at least not any time soon.

Tomas S.

November 30, 2005 08:03 PM

I, like many others, didn't see the potential of the Cube five years ago. My G4 tower had a PCI audio interface and scsi card so I could do my audio work - Now scsi is replaced by FireWire, and the audio interface ditto. I still have a G4 (a faster dual), but technically I could work on a Mini. As Chris points out, the Cube was ahead of itself as a concept.

Kenneth Trueman

December 2, 2005 11:18 AM

Robert Cringely had a very insightful article on this back in January. It was titled "Mac Mini: The New Mac Mini is All About Movies". I have provided the URL.

Paul C Hsieh

January 28, 2006 02:21 AM

As a consumer, I do not want my TV to become a Digital Living Center. TV is a TV. When I sit in my couch, I have no mood to do any typing with a keyboard. I just want to be entertained. So, I do not understand what's the fuss about Micorsoft's Media Center Edition. It has been out for a while but there is no one getting excited about it.

To me, iPod Video is all you need. Check the newest Griffin's TuneCenter. iPod is a carrier. From computer, you transfer the CONTENTS to iPod. Then you plug iPod in the TuneCenter Dock. Boom...you've got the music, the movie, the photo, even internet radio.

If I want to browse the web, I will then stand up and go to my computer.

We do not need a computer to dictate how we watch TV. We only need a carrier. That's why I believe Mac Mini will stay a computer not a Digital Living System. We've got one - iPod Video.

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john klein

April 22, 2010 11:07 AM

I, like many others, didn't see the potential of the Cube five years ago. My G4 tower had a PCI audio interface and scsi card so I could do my audio work - Now scsi is replaced by FireWire, and the audio interface ditto. I still have a G4 (a faster dual), but technically I could work on a Mini. As Chris points out, the Cube was ahead of itself as a concept.

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A blog on the daily doings of Apple and the many companies in its orbit, with insight and analysis by two longtime Apple-watchers BusinessWeek Senior Writer Peter Burrows and BusinessWeek.com Senior Technology Writer Arik Hesseldahl.

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