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Apple to Rule the Digital Home by 2013?
Stony Stevenson writes to tell us that a new study from Forrester Research is taking a crack at what seems to have become a hobby for so many, predicting Apple's market strategy. Specifically, Forrester is predicting that Apple will become the 'hub of the digital home by 2013.' "Forrester predicts that Apple will offer eight key products and services to connect PCs and digital content to the TV-stereo infrastructure in consumers' homes. A 're-engineered' Apple Store will expand into in-home installation services to deliver what Forrester describes as a 'fully integrated digital experience.'"
quickly another apple story on /.
everyone masturbate over your ipod mini's. apple will fuck up their current popularity just like they did last time. that's MY prediction.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
No, if Apple were to produce a game system, it would cost 20%+ more than the competition,
Who cares? We aren't talking $10,000 systems here, we're talking about something that would sell for maybe $300. Even if they sell the hardware for "20%" more than it's supposedly "worth", that's $60. If they can make it easy to use and market it successfully, they'll have no trouble commanding a $60 premium - that's dinner for two at a decent restaurant in Los Angeles. And if they can keep the games to $20, parents will be able to quickly determine that the total cost of ownership for the console would be a lot lower than a Playstation, with its $60 games.
The Wii has already shown us that the bulk of customers don't give a crap about "cutting edge" gaming hardware - they're more interested in the interface, and the games. Apple gets interfaces, and they'd certainly attract plenty of games developers. Leverage the iPhone, the iPod, their AppleTV / iTunes store and sell a moderately-powerful game / media receiver console for $300. Since they wouldn't need to sink billions into developing such a device, any sales they get would be pure profit, and any sales they steal away from rivals would be a nice bonus.
The console developers have been trying to convert their gaming machines into successful digital media hubs for quite a few years now, with little success. My guess is Apple will have better luck converting its digital media hub into a gaming system. You get people to buy with the promise of movies on demand, music in every room and an easy-to-use interface - a "serious" device - and then you peddle the games. That's how Commodore moved millions of 64's and ate Atari's lunch.