Apple Taking a Second Shot at Apple TV with New Software, Hardware - Report

Steve Jobs continues to label the Apple TV as nothing more than a hobby for the company headquartered at One Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, yet word on the street is that Apple has started to work on a revamped version of the media center with a particular focus on the underlying software.

A report by the New York Times claims that Apple, Inc. is “working on an update to its television software”, an update that “will offer a completely redesigned interface for it,” the Times’ source allegedly said. The source asked not to be identified, while Apple could not be reached for a comment. Several other anonymous sources are quoted in the report as saying that the Apple TV is not only getting new software, but also completely new hardware.

For example, Michael Gartenberg, a partner with the consulting firm Altimeter Group, suggested he trusts it’s only a matter of time before Apple repackages the Apple TV in a more attractive form: “Right now, Apple TV is much more of an extension of iTunes in the sense that one of its sole purposes is to either buy or rent from the iTunes store,” he said. “I suspect it’s only a matter of time before this hobby gets turned into a business, the TV space is too important to ignore,” Mr. Gartenberg added. ”The TV remains one of the last disconnected devices in the household and everyone is trying to figure it out.”

Perhaps the most solid clue Apple is getting into more people’s living rooms soon is that Steve Jobs has identified what he thinks is the biggest problem with this industry - no go-to-market strategy. The CEO should be correct, the problem is as good as solved, if Apple really wants it. There is almost no doubt that Apple has enough influence in the consumer electronics market to persuade the adoption of a revolutionary business model that benefits both content providers and consumers, just like it did with the iTunes App Store two years ago.