GigaOM thinks Steve Jobs is Bill Gates 2.0

no no no, Steve Jobs is Steve Jobs 2.0. On the otherhand Bill Gates 2.0 is currently with the Melinda Foundation.

This is not without precedent. Apple intro'd the original iMac in the spring and shipped in August.

Sure, they had a name, but they have a provisional name for this for now too.

I think it is mostly about differentiation.

My 2 cents. I agree with some of # 16 & 18 although I have to say that when I saw the "Apple in your living room, Apple in your pocket" thing it gave me bad shivers and I thought hmmph... Apple everywhere. Then I remembered that be it Apple or Microsoft the main aim is to increase market share. If they can dominate they will dominate. They are a businesses after all... The thing that I think is different about Apple is that they deliver innovative, quality products that people tend to like for the most part which increases their market share. I am annoyed with a few things I've seen. We seem to have become a generation of victims. Why is Bill Gates such an aweful person because he made a product that dominated the market during his day? We the consumers bought it didn't we? Same thing here with Apple we're the ones plopping out our money and buying the iPods, the MacBooks, the videos, audios. Why do we blame Steve? He's giving us what we want right and making tons of money doing it... Is this not the way of capitalism? If we put labels on Gates and Jobs perhaps we should look no further than ourselves after all we the consumers seem to be an intergral part of this well oiled machine. Perhaps we should save our money or give it to the poor instead of expanding these companies bottom line.

I think it is closer to the truth than I care to admit....

I think Steve offered a preview of iTV because they didn't have that widescreen iPod all the investors were hoping to see. To keep people interested in Apple, he showed them what's coming in the future. Blame on these damn rumor sites. Ha.

I think there are a lot of good obervations involving the need for 802.11n and using it to draw other studios in. I also think it give Apple an opertunity to gage public response and make an update or two. Remember the MacBook Pro, processor upgrade they did before the product ever hit the shelves?

There was a recent blog article on roughlydrafted.com stating that the reason why iTV is not being released now is that 802.11n is not standardized yet. Apple is waiting for 802.11n and that's what's holding it up.

They could using this iTV unveiling as something that they can test out to see if the market would buy something like this. For Apple the iPod HiFi wasn't a major success, so they may try to test out the waters.

I don't think Apple is Microsoft 2.0, however. Remember that Microsoft and Apple are still very different with one taking a software approach and the other taking a hardware approach. What is making Apple's success right now, however, is that they can make great hardware and then use their own software to take it to another level.

Microsoft has never had that sort of synergy with their hardware vendors, and it shows with the UMPC products out there. We're entering in to a new level of the market where users are getting sick of cheap hardware an incompatible software. Nobody actually needs Windows, despite what people may think for their one program. Companies are beginning to have options with Apple's rebirth as a developer-friendly company. The only thing in any way that is similar is that Apple and Microsoft are trying to be very good to their developers.

Relax a bit...

I think iTV will be based on 802.11n technology and Apple is expecting that by this year end there'll be an almost final 802.11n draft. When that happens the related chips can be produced and iTV will be on our living rooms.
Those 4 to 6 months will be used to build up the movies library and test clients reaction and feedback.
Now, the iTunes (Movie) Store is only on Beta/RC stage. When iTV is out will reach 1.0 status.

Who's this Bill Gates guy?

BTW, the race for the Living Room is already half way to the finish line but MS recently announced that it's chief driver has retired. Now, who do you think is going to win?