Monitored Alarm Systems

When the first Apple TV arrived in 2007, it had all the tools to be successful. Intel processor. 720p support via HDMI. Wi-Fi. Up to a 160 GB HDD. But then came the limitations. It could only stream H.264 or MP4 video. It could play trailers and video clips from iTunes, but you couldn't buy or rent movies or TV shows. Nor could you buy MP3s. Aside from photos, which used Flickr, streaming was facilitated entirely through iTunes on your computer. People weren't exactly going crazy to get their hands on an Apple TV, which led the company to release a revised version of the software which supported TV and Movie rentals, and even that only offered limited success. Eventually, Apple reconceptualized the Apple TV in many ways, producing the awesome little black box that still exists today.

When Steve Jobs introduced Ping, it was supposed to be the greatest thing to happen to music discovery since radio. But not even half-baked, Ping was just raw and underdeveloped. It was a feed hiding in the most unusable section of iTunes (the music store), that let you recommend songs from the store, which only existed in the store. It also told everyone when you bought something new. No playlists from friends. No top lists. It kept the collective attention of the technorati for about 14 minutes. Eventually they "expanded" ping to let you recommend tracks from your library view, but you know what they say about pigs and lipstick.

In 2004 we wanted a video iPod. So what Apple has to give them? An iPod can display low-res photos (220x176!!). At $ 500 the 40 GB model costs $ 100 more than the normal 40 GB iPod, perhaps a 60 GB model emerged for $ 600. You won 't see a lot of people loving having regard to the iPod Photo has days like they did the third generation iPod (fainting).

What 's your least favorite Steve Jobs Apple product?

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