Depending on how fast the internet and wireless can get, you may not even need that central computer/hard-drive, and just use services such as Rhapsody to have access to practically every song/movie ever made whenever you want, wherever you want.

So the iTV is not at competition with the mini (or any other entertainment center for that matter. It simplifies it into a tiny little component that speaks to your entertainment center stored away to keep your living room and bedroom as spacious as possible.

As far as Apple’s business, I could care less if they keep cranking out products and spread themselves thin. I just want good products, and they’ve delivered. In terms of investing, current stock price is strictly for the speculators, not investors.

If you look at wider trends in the software world, the single biggest trend / revolution is towards software deployed directly over the web, using operating system agnostic technologies. At the moment, it’s at the point of apps like GMail – mid-90s GUI, no 3D card access, no plug-ins – and the cost of development is far hire than writing directly for Windows or OS X. But the trend is inexorable. It has presents massive opportunities for Apple – the Windows dependency is dying – but it also presents a threat – the operating system dependency is dying, and what people are buying computers for is changing.

The one thing that is hugely evident is that Apple have no significant technology in this space (Quicktime is being slaughtered by Flash as the prime media delivery technology) – it is largely a game between MS and Adobe for the client, and MS and Sun/IBM for the server. It’s a pretty blood-thirsty market, involving giving away millions of pounds of software development for free to gain market share for hardware, consultancy and support.
(A long way from Apple’s strategy of giving away support to drive hardware and software sales – and trying to make sure their users need less support).

People don’t need computers – they need the functions that computers perform – and I think Apple has the right focus at the moment on what the home market wants. (As someone who has owned two DVD recorders, I think Apple could OWN that market, should they choose too. And I think they might, but they’re focusing on the next generation – the move away from physical media).

While larger businesses may be able to incorporate much better, small business implementations of too much diversity are often disastrous and affect profits from every venture. I wonder if Apple is trying to do too much, too fast. Just a thought.

My mini serves some similar purposes to yours, except it is located in my bedroom, hooked up to a screen. The iTV may be useful for me if I ever decide watch something on one of the other TV’s in our household.

I am in the same boat, theres a mini under my TV and it does a lot more than an iTV will/could.

This is why the iTV costs $300, not $600 or $1000.

A good place for an iTV, in your case, would be a different TV in your house, which would connect to your mini and do its thing.