The most exciting feature of iTV may be its USB port
It has been three days since the September 12 Apple announcement and I am quite surprised that despite the interest generated by the iTV announcement, few are talking about it’s most mysterious feature, the USB port which can be found on the back of the device.
Some have speculated that it could be used to connect a keyboard to the iTV. That could be the case, if Apple decided to convert the product into a game console or an Internet device. It is possible, but I do not believe that Apple is going in that direction, for now. There are other kinds of USB devices that make much more sense, my personal bet is TV tuners.
Within the Macintosh world there are two companies who have developed TV tuners for some time now, namely elgato and http://www.miglia.com/. It makes a lot of sense for Apple to leave this market to third parties, since there are so many incompatible ways to receive TV content today. In the U.S. for example, CableCard 2.0 is competing with conventional Analog TV as well as the new Digital TV designed to replace it by 2009. Making a single device that supports all standards is difficult and expensive. Then there is the problem of user experience. While it may be relatively easy to offer program guides in the U.S. and most of Europe, the situation may be different in other regions/countries where Apple operates. By not including the DVR functionality itself it can market the iTV the same way globally while they partner with others to offer TV tuner products locally.
So, why is the iTV more expensive than the eyeHome? That isn’t totally clear to me, but it would seem much cheaper if it included a 802.11n base station. After all, it includes an Ethernet adapter that could be used to connect to your cable modem or equivalent. This possibility has been discussed by many as Steve Jobs failed to mention what version of the standard they would be using. We will have to see, but the fact is that if I am right and the USB connector will be used to add third party TV tuners, suddenly it all makes sense and we all get what we had been waiting for. I would be really surprised if Apple hadn’t planned that all along. Why not announce it now, then? Well, I guess that Steve Jobs is already preparing it’s One more thing… speech for MacWorld. After all, the iTV announcement was meant for analysts, who needed to understand that Apple’s Movie strategy was aimed at the living room, much more than at the iPod, unlike it’s competitors.