engadget.com — We had a word with Apple yesterday about the Apple TV -- specifically about that supposed backdoor. We asked whether enthusiasts really are in fact having services and hacks shut down through surreptitious software updates and backdoors into the Apple TV, to which Apple let us know that is absolutely not the case.
Apr 5, 2007 View in Crawl 4
feeedbaackApr 6, 2007
The reason they don't care is that they're not taking a loss on that hardware. A lot of companies use their hardware as a loss leader in the hopes of selling content. With Apple thats clearly not the case. Lets look at what you get for $300. Pentium Mobile 1ghz256mb ram40gb HD and to top it off a Geforce Go 7300 64mb video card. I wouldn't use that POS to play pacman. Just because you can hack it to run a full OS, doesn't mean you should.
dominatusApr 6, 2007
'That may be at Cingular's request just as much as Apple's - we all know how much they love unlocked phones on their network.'All the Windows Mobile phones on cingular's network allow the running of third party code.
ungamedplayerApr 6, 2007
@Mothrog,Easy.. One doesn't cost them money or goodwill, the other does.
slicktoApr 6, 2007
It's such a piece of s**t, the only way they can sell more is to let the hackers fix it. What happened to the Apple "it just works" mind set. What average joe would buy this, knowing they have to gut it to make it do anything useful.
bootesApr 6, 2007
The people that consider it to be worthless without hacking are the same people that have the knowledge to hack it.
Closed AccountApr 6, 2007
<a class="user" href="http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant">http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant</a>
Closed AccountApr 6, 2007
I've got an original and novel idea! Let's link a Maddox article which is vaguely reminiscent of the topic (but in truth, fairly irrelevant) for the 100th time, to get those last people who haven't yet seen it to finally hate people who keep linking it too.Brilliant!
orangetideApr 6, 2007
A large hacker community around the Apple TV hardware should be a clue to Apple that the stock capabilities of the device are not up to everyone's standards.I don't see why Apple would even care if you hack the device. The hardware is significantly inferior to a Mac Mini, Apple doesn't make and sell a $300 Mac Mini because the hardware would be so low-end that it would not be practical for most of their customers. No sense in adding a product to your lineup that would result in customer confusion. (Apple has had several products in the past that people would look at and go WTH?).If you just want to play iTunes videos you paid for on your TV set, it seems you either need an Apple TV or a video iPod. Both are roughly the same price, the aTV happens to have HD out and networking capabilities. the iPod has a bigger disk and is portable. (for those that don't know you can get composite video out of a video iPod with a simple $20 cable, same cable used for video out on the old iBooks)
thalassicusApr 6, 2007
Actually, this might be good news for iPhone users...If Cingular won't relent on using your own mp3s as ringtones or allowing skype via wifi (or any other bs carrier lockdown), then Apple can placate them by not including those features in the iPhone. If the phone gets hacked aftermarket and Apple does nothing to prevent this, then the iPhone becomes a better product (more features) while technically meeting carrier terms. I know that Jobs said that he wanted a "controlled environment," but consider that a) he had to say that to placate Cingular who is worried about losing money they don't deserve on features like selling mp3 ringtones and b) Apple could selectively crack down on the hacks that they weren't in favor of. We'll see soon enough since there are probably gonna be hacks galore to deal with come July, but I can't imagine corporate policy being that out of alignment between brands.