So Many Great Apple Innovations - Why Doesn’t Our Industry Take Notice?

Windows Vista with cablecard has everything this has and more.  Microsoft is supporting the channel with lifeware, crestron, and other.  Apple only cares about their small little proprietary world.  Savant needs to step into reality.  I have met with them and that is one of the ugliest attempts at automation to date.

A friend and I were just discussing this the other day. We both use Apple products, and love them. We both also use PC based systems… I was asking my friend (we are both industry veterans), how long it will be before apple comes out with something that will totally bury all the other guys out there…?
Apple is growing and gaining marketshare and is no longer used by just the graphic artists and architects of the world!
I look forward to the day that they come out with a simple, powerful universal remote that puts all the others to shame.

Bob in the fist post is too polite when he said “Apple only cares about their small little proprietary world.”  Having worked for a small dealer that retailed iPods I can say first hand that they are not going to win any prizes for “vendor of the year.”  If anything will hold back their progess in automation, it will be their ability to play well with others.

On the custom side, I’ve been asked to integrate an AppleTV box into a client’s AV setup exactly once in the past year, so I have yet to see them achieve world domination in this endeavor.

I quote:
“I’m thinking about becoming a Mac user in light of the most recent announcements, but also for these reasons:

MS Office for Mac 2008 is available
Connect360 lets me link my Xbox 360 to my Mac Mini
Flip for Mac allows playback of WMV files as a native add-in for Quicktime
Microsoft is working on an MSN messenger application for the Mac”

Seriously? The biggest reasons for moving over to a mac, are that they can finally almost do all the things that can be done with Vista? 

When Appletv came out one of our customers rushed out to buy it, and was later disappointed to find that it couldn’t even utilize a tv tuner.  I suppose adding “tv” to the name works, if you’re interested in purchasing content from Apple that will only play on an Apple product. 

Why doesn’t our industry take notice?  We call ourselves custom integrators, meaning of course that we integrate products to work together.  The only thing that Apple seems to want to integrate with, is Apple.  They create beautiful products, and their gui is second to none in my opinion, but until they play fair with a broad array of products and software, there is no need for Appletv in a custom environment.

Appletv doesn’t have anything on a Vista Media center with extenders attached?

With Vista Media Center you can:
Control your house (yes you actually have a choice of more than just a few companies that have created software)
Watch HD TV (over the air or cable)
Stream photos
Stream videos
Play games (Xbox used as extender)
Play a DVD (using an xbox360 or an extender)
Listen to radio
Check the weather
Download movies
Etc. etc. etc.

So let me get this straight; with Apple TV you can view photos, videos, and now if you have enough cash and a screaming fast internet connection you can playback HD movies in 720p (purchased directly from Apple of course).  Wow, amazing, why aren’t we paying attention?

Branden,

Your points are well taken however my intent was not to elevate Apple TV as better Media device than a Windows Vista Machine but rather to point out that as the abilities of Mac computers and Itunes continues to be enhanced the gap between Windows Vista Machines with extenders and Aplle based systems such as Savant’s home automation system components will continue to close with Apple eventually having the same capabilities as Vista.

As more periferal manufacturers such as Elgato and ATI release off air tuners the gap will continue to shrink even more.

Most Mac users, at least the custom installation clients I had, would jump at the chance to have home control systems that are not only Mac based in terms of harware but more importantly retain the look and feel of thier desktop and notebook Macs.

It is in my own experience,also a heck of a lot easier to teach a client how to use I-Tunes than Windows Media player.

But the bigger picture here is that now Savant and I suspect others will follow have a source of content with which to skin thier own media servers/custom browsers.

The closer we get to having a Coke(MS) versus Pepsi(Mac)competition the better it will be for integrators in terms of more innovations and choices for clients.

Andrew