Much ado about nothing or Apple TV

Yesterday’s Apple announcements had analysts and fans alike drooling at the possibilities of a tablet-sized Apple iPod Touch, others saw a Web browser and iPhone/iPod applets for the Apple TV, and there was the eternal rumor of a Blu-Ray DVD being added to the Apple TV. In the event, there was, drum roll please, no Apple TV news at all.

Thud.

There are new iPods and a new version of Apple iTunes, but if you wanted any improvements to the Apple TV, you had come to the wrong place. I find this more than a little disappointing. I’m a big Apple TV fan, but Apple management seems to disagree.

That’s a great pity because I know as sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow that the Internet is going to be the next revolution in TV. Everyone, cable companies, online powers, you name it, will be trying to bring you television shows and movies to your TV and your PCs over the Internet. This trend already has a name, Content Everywhere, but for some reason Apple doesn’t seem to want to take advantage of it.

Maybe as Jobs regains his energy, he’ll realize that Apple is missing a big opportunity. The Apple TV could be to media extenders, what the iPod was to MP3 players, the product that changed everything. But, that’s not going to happen at this rate.

Oh, there are a few new things in iTunes 9, that makes video better for home users. For example, with Home Sharing, it’s gotten a lot easier to browse and share the iTunes libraries for up to five authorized computers. You could share content before, but it was a pain and there were always pitfalls such as being able to listen to music from one library, but not being able to get those tunes on to an iPod synced with a different library.

What would make iTunes really useful for Apple TV users is to offer a real iTunes server. As it is, it keeps getting easier to cobble together an Apple TV/computer video server, but it’s still not easy.

It’s also nice that the iTunes Store has been redesigned to make it easier to find what you want. But, come on, this isn’t that big a deal.

It’s a pity really. Apple could be leading the rush to Content Everywhere and Internet TV, instead, they’re continuing to muddle along. Darn it.