Happy 5th birthday, Apple TV

Get out the cake and candles, it's birthday time! Five years ago today, Apple introduced the pre-cursor to the Apple TV. Code-named the iTV, the home entertainment device was "the last thing" presented during Apple's "Its Showtime" press event held in San Francisco on September 12th, 2006.

The iTV was introduced as a smaller Mac Mini that works with the Apple Remote. It ran modified OS X software with an interface that resembled a souped-up version of Front Row. It also included a USB port, 802.11B connectivity, component video, HDMI output and optical audio. Just like the current model, it was advertised as a device to watch media pulled from your computer and iTunes account.

Renamed the Apple TV for its launch, the first generation device hit retail shelves on March 2007 and received a lukewarm reception. The second generation model was introduced four years later at Apple's fall event on September 1, 2010. Still not a flagship product, Steve Jobs called the device a "hobby".

Though a hobby, the new Apple TV has some notable improvements, including a significantly smaller form factor and iOS which enabled features like AirPlay streaming. Sales of the AppleTV still pale in comparison to the iPhone and iPad, but the addition of other services like Netflix and the increased interest in video streaming bode well for the future of this device.

View Tags

Source: http://apple%20tv/

Categories

Apple Apple TV

Get out the cake and candles, it's birthday time! Five years ago today, Apple introduced the pre-cursor to the Apple TV. Code-named...

Add a Comment

Sign in »

11 Comments

Filter by:

Jeremy Harris

I suspect there will eventually be a version that does full HD. I'm happy with the one I have (the latest one). The one thing that would make it great, though, is if it could access the BBC iPlayer, 4oD and other broadcasters' on-demand offerings here in the UK, instead of the (irrelevant to me) MLB.tv.

September 13 2011 at 11:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Yanai Oron

it could be much much more but still I like it. The airplay capability itself is worth the $100 in my opinion, Also, the could thing works pretty well so far

September 12 2011 at 8:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

bitshifter

I still have my stock, 1st gen Apple TV and I still love it. I'm still not buying into all this streaming and cloud BS. Still not buying a 2nd gen Apple TV.

September 12 2011 at 5:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to bitshifter's comment

Andrew Macdonald

Absolutely agree with this. Same situation with me. Im not really that interested in streaming. We have a 10tb server running our home entertainment system. We have 5 Apple TV units in our house (1st Gen), and it works like a charm. And I've only used up 4tb of my server space with music, movies and music videos, etc (all legally paid for, I might add), so for me, streaming doesn't appeal to me at all.

September 13 2011 at 12:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Smithy1783

I was an early adopter of Apple TV and this coincided with my move to Apple for my media.

It is no coincidence that I found that my Apple based network, just worked really well and I had no complaints about the hardware. Fundamentally limited by the business model for iTunes and some excessively high prices for media... Particularly in the UK, the Apple TV still remained the best part of my wireless network - even if merely based upon it's potential as a product.

ATV2, iOS and in particular AirPlay have transformed the future for ATV. The Integration of my iOS devices and MacBook is now so seamless. I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

ATV works for me and works really well.

Happy Bitthday Apple TV and you little brother. You make my digital life just a little bit better.

September 12 2011 at 4:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mr Lizard

I think this is my favourite Apple product of all time. I added AirPlay to the original with RemoteHD and parked it in the bedroom when the 2nd gen came out. Both are great (the original model also heats the room during the winter)

September 12 2011 at 4:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

darrell

love apple products - but i probably use my PS3 for the same use that most use for an AppleTV. if it had iPhone caliber streaming apps (MLB, Hulu) specifically for ATV than i think it really would change things up.

September 12 2011 at 2:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Eric M

Does anyone think they'll introduce a new Apple TV model any time soon?

September 12 2011 at 1:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gu3st

The Apple TV was the thing that ended up me buying my first Mac. I wanted one to hack and basically run OSX (as it was much cheaper than a proper Mac) and could be hacked to run a pretty vanilla 10.4. Instead I ended up with an iMac (and an Apple TV at a point in the future).

September 12 2011 at 1:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply