Digital Home Thoughts: Apple Television Talk Turns Focus To Looming Battles

"That war will be fought in the living room-and the den, and the dorm room, and just about any place where people watch movies and TV programs and listen to music. It's been an open secret for years that Apple will make a play for the living room eventually. Despite Steve Jobs's protestations that Apple TV was "just a hobby," a high-definition TV is the inevitable next step in the natural evolution of the Apple ecosystem."

Like others close to the industry, Ed Bott from ZDNet has been following the "battle for the living room" for some time. His editorial on the subject (hit the Read link below) is great background reading for a subject that will likely explode in focus now as it has essentially been confirmed in the Steve Jobs biography that Apple has great interest in developing a TV to add to their arsenal. This is a battle that will play out for a very long time, but it almost certainly will change the way we have traditionally viewed TV shows and other forms of entertainment. The players include representatives from a wide variety of viewpoints and ecosystems, including Microsoft, Google, Netflix, Hulu, TiVo and a slew of others, basically hardware, software, and content providers from all aspects of the entertainment, news, sports, and music industries. Bott does a nice job of introducing the battleground, including providing his perspective on which dimensions will be particularly important (user experiences, business relationships with content providers, and cable/satellite infrastructure). To get started, curl up in your easy chair, in your living room, of course, and get reading.