Apple TV Sales Reach 1 Million...Now What

by Abe Abrahamian---12-27-2010

It's official, the new Apple TV has reached 1 million units sold according to AllThingsDigital.com . However, the 2nd generation version of the Apple TV has it's own share of problems. For example, what resolutions can it play back? Can it support 1080p content and output 1080p? Will it playback 1080p content at the 720p resolution? Just do a simple search on the web and you will find a thousand different responses. Also, the computer must be on for streaming content to the Apple TV since it lacks a hard drive. No Component video output? This has provided some unique issues for end users in the high end home A/V automation market. 

The unit supports Netflix, You Tube, and Flickr accounts for streaming content. You can of course stream music, photo, and video content from i-Tunes directly to the unit. Apple also recently released I-OS 4.1.1 to fix a resolution issue at the 480p setting and also added AirPlay. You can push content from your iPhone, iPod, or iPad directly to the Apple TV.

This is not a full review of the new Apple TV. But the question still stands. Is 1 million Apple TV's sold relevant in a market where the XBOX 360 has sold tens of millions of units where the new UI provides a better experience? Why not a Roku box? It does the same thing as the Apple TV if not more? Or is the Apple TV ecosystem the way to go? An i-Mac streaming content to the Apple TV controlled by an Apple product like an iPhone? From experiences around the web, streaming content from a Windows 7 based PC using i-Tunes to an Apple TV has been nothing short of a disaster. Most will blame the Windows operating system? Or is it the iTunes application ported to Windows the issue? Thoughts anyone? Many questions above have still remained unanswered.