Beleaguered TiVo is ripe for an Apple takeover 




"Everyone who has TiVo loves TiVo; it is to television what Macintosh was to computing -- a revelation," John Battelle writes for Business 2.0.

MacDailyNews Take: The Macintosh still is a revelation, John. Just ask anyone forced to use Windows at work who chooses to use Mac OS X at home.

"Which is exactly why Apple should buy TiVo and once again redefine the intersection of culture and technology," Battelle writes.

"Folks love TiVo for the same reason they loved the Mac in 1984 and the iPod in 2001: It gives control back to the end user. TiVo viewers call the shots regarding when, how, and -- soon -- even where they watch. Once content or access is purchased, the end user is in charge, just like with the iPod," Battelle writes. "But unlike the iPod, TiVo and systems like it are in serious trouble. The culprit is the entertainment industry. TiVo has an abeyant Napster-like quality -- and the content business is scared silly that it will not only destroy advertising revenues but become the platform for video swapping on the Internet."

"With a depressed market cap and nearly 625,000 customers, TiVo is a steal. Jobs would have to unwind some messy licensing agreements, but he's done that before. His next step would be to apply Apple's design elegance and create an 'iTV' device that integrates with Macintosh OS X, the Internet, and your cable or satellite box. Talk about a revolution. Once Apple turned on the marketing and PR offensive, we'd have one hell of a Hollywood drama unfolding. And with Jobs in the lead role, it'd be awfully fun to watch," Battelle writes.

Full article here. 

Posted: Fri - August 13, 2004 at 11:57 AM        

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