You can find a lot of online hate for the Apple TV, like this recent confession from Aron Trimble at TUAW:
I imagine this will come as a surprise to many, but this TUAW blogger hates an Apple product. A product that could be great, could be so much better than what it is. For some unknown reason, this “hobby” is left to wither and die a slow, painful death. The real tragedy is that when Apple TV does die, I suspect Steve Jobs will never venture to create another, similar product even though the Apple TV has so much potential.
Goodbye, Apple TV: your promises were enchanting but your lies were enraging.
I don’t understand the hate. Just because it doesn’t do all a user wants is no reason to get angry. It does what it does well. If you want more, don’t buy it.
Granted, the Apple TV could be much more than it is. Apple is certainly not pushing the potential of this device. I can only assume that they view other products — iPhone and perhaps a tablet device — as higher priorities. Hopefully, one day, they’ll update the Apple TV with more offerings.
But for now, I use it to rent movies from iTunes. I’ve also hacked it with Boxee, and that opens a lot more. Add to that a library of movies that I own, and the Apple TV is a great hub for my video entertainment.
Sure, I’d love the Hulu client on there, but I use a Mac Mini attached to my TV to get that.
So stop the Apple TV hate. It may not have reached its potential, but it does what it does pretty well.
