After seeing some screenshots of YouTube officially supported by the Apple TV, I think Apple may be readying the iTunes Store for the Apple TV. According to Apple’s press release, you will also be able to search for specific videos and you can even log-in to your YouTube accounts. Apple has put together a method to navigate something like a website with millions of media files on an Apple TV by using a tiny Apple Remote.
This setup seems easily adaptable to the iTunes Store. Essentially, the iTunes Store is nothing more than a fancy web site that runs in the iTunes software. As I previously mentioned, a search and log-in feature is included with the new YouTube support. How much work would be involved to create a similar interface for iTunes? It would not be hard to imagine a situation where you could eventually log-in to your iTunes account and navigate using the slick Apple TV interface.
Additionally, the Apple TV has a new built-to-order option of a 160GB hard drive. This looks to be another move aimed at turning the Apple TV from a headless iPod to a digital hub. To some degree this also reminds me of the original XBox. The original XBox was hacked dozens of times and eventually many of the hacks were officially adopted by Microsoft in XBox 360. Now, Apple is adopting hacks such as a larger hard drive and a YouTube plugin in a new version of the Apple TV.
Steve Jobs had mentioned recently at the All Things Digital conference that the Apple TV is a “hobby.” It appears that Apple will be tinkering with the Apple TV until they figure out how to properly position the Apple TV as a business.
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