What Happened to Apple’s television?
This time last year, any industry analyst could talk about was Apple’s entry into the television business. A lot of this talk had been fueled by revelations that Steve Jobs had made in his biography that this was an area of business that he saw could be revolutionized.
The rumor mills of course went into overdrive as to what the television would like, what functionality it would provide and who it would wipe out.
This is as close to an Apple television as we've come so far. Image: tech.fortune.cnn.com
There is in truth, a lot that can change in the television industry. It is still an industry that relies on messy cables and connectors. It is an industry that launched 3D devices that required the use of ghastly looking glasses. It is an industry that still relies on content to be delivered through a satellite, cable or antenna. It is an industry that is fighting for margins because once they have sold the consumer a television, they have got no recurring revenue stream for themselves. It is an industry that thinks consumers will upgrade their flat screen television just because you now have a “slimmer” flat screen television. It is an industry that is in many cases stuck in a state of denial.
This is not to say that we haven’t seen innovations but one gets the feeling that there is still a lot more that needs to happen.
The chatter about Apple’s television seems to have died down for now. Apple for their part is probably looking at how and when they enter the market, they need to find a way to topple arch-rival and industry leader Samsung off its pedestal. For consumers in the Middle East though, I would say we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.
Just as we have not seen an Apple iTunes store for the region that has movies, TV shows or music available, we haven’t seen the introduction officially of the Apple TV box, Siri or even FaceTime. If an Apple television is introduced, one would suspect that it would be designed initially for the North American market followed by Europe, Australia and parts of Far East Asia. If Apple is going to change the way we use our television, I hope it’s not only a hardware offering but something that includes an entire content delivery system localized for the region. If this doesn’t happen, then as excited as we may be, the Apple television still looks to be a dream that’s not going to come to fruition in the Middle East any time soon
Ashish Panjabi is the Chief Operating Officer for the Jacky’s Group of Companies and has been running the retail interests of the Group since 2004. An active user of various social media platforms, Ashish also runs his own blog site – http://ashishpanjabi.blogspot.com/ – and has been a blogger since 2010. He is also on Twitter where he is also actively involved (http://www.twitter.com/apanjabi). Aside from retailing, Panjabi has managed the group’s distribution, mail order and project sales businesses. He is also responsible for managing IT-‐infrastructure at Jacky’s. Prior to that, he worked in Hong Kong for a multinational company in the Graphic Arts industry, and was responsible for the Asia-‐ Pacific region. Ashish holds a Bachelor in Science with specialisation in Finance, Investments and Economics from Babson College, USA. He is also a member and former President of the Entrepreneur's Organization's (EO) UAE Chapter, a global organization of established entrepreneurs, with over 8,000 members worldwide.
