Apple has announced the pricing of the new Apple TV 2.0 ($99) – down from $299 plus. According to Business INsider:
“As before, Apple TV is focused mostly on watching movies, TV shows, and pictures, and listening to some audio. That’s what people want from Apple TV, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs….It still does not include games, a web browser, or third-party apps. And it might not anytime soon: Jobs specifically said that consumers don’t want a computer in their living room. They just want Hollywood movies and TV shows.”
According to a later article comparing Apple’s endeavor to Google, BI says:
“Meanwhile, Google is trying to invade the living room and take over. Google TV is a huge, ambitious attempt to make Google the focal point of your TV experience. It sits between your cable box and your TV, tells your DVR what to record, searches the web, and seems to add a lot of complexity to your entertainment experience.”
Search Engine Land takes note of teh TV battle, but says the real fight in the makmiong is over social gaming:
“But more interesting than the activation tit-for-tat is how Apple may have created something in Ping that Google aspires to create but may not be able to…. Google has been hiring and investing to build what appears to be a social gaming destination as the basis (or partial basis) for its new social media strategy. (Apple also announced social gaming for the iPhone and iPod Touch yesterday.) My guess is that “Google Me” is bigger than games but games seems to be the “hook” or near-term focus.”
The usual sniping between Jobs and Schmidt is in full swing according to Fortune:
“Steve Jobs started off the presentation today saying that Apple was activating 230,000 devices a day. Google’s Eric Schmidt last month said that Google was activating over 200,000 devices a day and growing. But Steve Jobs can’t believe those numbers are legit. He told the event audience that:
“We think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers”
That’s obviously a direct accusation aimed at Google. He added, ” we think we are ahead of everyone”.
Updated: A Google Spokesperson told me: “The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services.” –meaning that Jobs’ assertions were wrong.”
Don’t expect to see the Google/Apple animosity die down anytime soon – with archenemy Yahoo out of the way, Google has Apple firmly in its sights as the next big competitor, albeit on another field of battle.
Tags: Android, Apple TV, Google TV, Steve Jobs