In recent years, Apple has deprived us of spectacular failures it supplied so generously from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. Although its Mac Minis have been criticized as overpriced, they sell decently, and Apple's desktop Macs fall into the category of competent. Instead of failures, the decade has instead been one of major hits such as the MacBook, MacBook Pro, iPod, iTunes, and iPhone. There's been one exception so far: the Apple TV.
Apple's networked media player box was supposed to be the new TiVo, but it's not even as well liked as Windows-based media-center PCs. That's because the Apple TV is fairly limited: You can use it to play music and photos onto your TV from other computers or through iTunes -- which many AV receivers can also do -- as well as play videos from Flickr, YouTube, and the iTunes Store. But you can do the same plugging your computer into many HDTVs using its HDMI or USB port. Apple TV isn't connected to the vast video libraries of Netflix or Blockbuster, so you're stuck with the iTunes Store's offerings, which many television and movie studios have avoided supporting for fear of suffering the same loss of control as the music industry experienced with iTunes. In other words, Apple TV isn't that innovative or that capable -- in contrast to Apple's recent history.
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