Just to get an idea of the popularity of the Apple TV when it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, here’s a quick poll.

Have you ordered an Apple TV?

I haven’t ordered one, but I will be purchasing an Apple TV soon after release.

So far, we have 3 who have bought and 7 who have not (3 replies NO and 4 replies THINKING ABOUT IT). 

And that’s my point.

On this AFB, one might assume that a higher percentage would have made a purchase if it were a MUST HAVE item (as a Shuffle might have been or as the iPhone may turn out to be). 

I have no doubts as to whether an iTV could be useful in my house, but at this time, I’m not sure about how useful because I don’t know THAT much about it.  And if I don’t know that much, your everyday consumer sure isn’t go to know much, at least at this time.  Perhaps if Apple starts running ads when shipping begins, we’ll all learn more about it.

[quote author=“johnnyvn”]So far, we have 3 who have bought and 7 who have not (3 replies NO and 4 replies THINKING ABOUT IT). 

And that’s my point.

On this AFB, one might assume that a higher percentage would have made a purchase if it were a MUST HAVE item (as a Shuffle might have been or as the iPhone may turn out to be). 

I have no doubts as to whether an iTV could be useful in my house, but at this time, I’m not sure about how useful because I don’t know THAT much about it.  And if I don’t know that much, your everyday consumer sure isn’t go to know much, at least at this time.  Perhaps if Apple starts running ads when shipping begins, we’ll all learn more about it.

Johnny, not sure what your point is.. Apple said they’ve sold out of iTVs. They’ve ordered another 200k immediately, and they’ve said they’re expecting to sell 1m of them by Christmas. Its off to a great start! Nobody expected this to suddenly sell in 10s of millions straight away, but the initial sales are very encouraging as far as I’m concerned. i don’t think there’s much of a point to be made in trying to demonstrate that the iTV is going to be a slow-start story relative to other product introductions. I think that’s pretty much assumed isn’t it?

[quote author=“johnnyvn”]So far, we have 3 who have bought and 7 who have not (3 replies NO and 4 replies THINKING ABOUT IT).

That’s an interesting way of looking at it. You could just as easily say that given the current split is 3 and 3, then 2 of those remaining 4 will buy, making 5 and 5.

I don’t expect everyone to buy an Apple TV, but as reports have confirmed, they are still selling well. People on these boards could be classified as Apple early adopters, so in my eyes these figures bode well.

I ordered mine immediately ... anyone interested in a gently used Mac mini?

Frankly I think it more interesting that a third of respondents here (admittedly only 12 people have actually declared!) have bought an iTV. That’s a sign of strong demand IMO.

Tommo, in the other iTV thread, you hypothesized that, “However, it is feasible that at this rate, Apple may well sell anywhere between 300k - 2m iTVs in Q2.”

I believe that Apple sold about 375k of iPods in the first year, and I’m wondering if the iTV will approach those numbers.  Meaning, selling 300k-2m in Q2 *might*  be a stretch, especially if the sales so far have been to Apple early adoptors (as I normally am). 

Apple’s job with the product will be to convince people why they need it.  At this time, my presumption is mostly to play movies or shows downloaded off of iTunes, and/or play home movies that you might have edited on your iMac.  Am I right? 

Regardless, it will be an interesting story to watch as the year develops and we see how it works into the master Apple plan.

Well, after all, this is a board full of total Apple heads and I think it’s safe to say that our members have more disposable income than your typical household when it comes to Apple products.

[quote author=“wheeles”][quote author=“johnnyvn”]So far, we have 3 who have bought and 7 who have not (3 replies NO and 4 replies THINKING ABOUT IT).

That’s an interesting way of looking at it. You could just as easily say that given the current split is 3 and 3, then 2 of those remaining 4 will buy, making 5 and 5.

Wheeles, the question is not whether one *is thinking about buying a product*, the question is whether the consumer has *actually purchased the product*. 

I say that only to illustrate that I have no doubt the iTV will be another great product in the Apple line EVENTUALLY.  But as for a “must have, wait in line like we do for Leopard”, I don’t see that with the iTV.  I believe the product will have a relatively slow ramp up.

[quote author=“johnnyvn”][quote author=“wheeles”][quote author=“johnnyvn”]So far, we have 3 who have bought and 7 who have not (3 replies NO and 4 replies THINKING ABOUT IT).

That’s an interesting way of looking at it. You could just as easily say that given the current split is 3 and 3, then 2 of those remaining 4 will buy, making 5 and 5.

Wheeles, the question is not whether one *is thinking about buying a product*, the question is whether the consumer has *actually purchased the product*. 

I say that only to illustrate that I have no doubt the iTV will be another great product in the Apple line EVENTUALLY.  But as for a “must have, wait in line like we do for Leopard”, I don’t see that with the iTV.  I believe the product will have a relatively slow ramp up.

I have voted “I am thinking about buying” because I have not yet ordered but I certainly will order it together with my next Mac somewhat later this quarter.

I would also need a new TV

I would also need a new TV in order to use an Apple TV.  I would probably put my money into an iPhone before getting an Apple TV.

At the moment just about all of my video-entertainment is either on a DVD or on my DVR. Since AppleTV does not address either or those areas, I’m not too interested at the moment.

Eventually this sort of device will be the norm in everyone’s home and I, for one, can’t wait for that day.

But it’s going to be a few years for me, I think.

Yup, have iMac, Mini, Powerbook, MacBook, 3 iPods, 2 laser printers, Gigibit ethernetwork connecting everything - AppleTV would really be useful in our house. But no HDTV. No TiVo, no 5.1 surround receiver with optical audio. Just your basic 27"TV and JBL 2.1 creature speakers which came from the iMac. We could probably get a converter box so the AppleTV output could play out over composite. Now *there’s* an upsell! (Down sell?) Something like that.

My mother asked me the other day what she and Dad are going to do in a few years when they stop broadcasting SDTV. “Probably read a book”, she said. She has plenty of cash to get a new TV, “but the old one is working fine”. Collusion between the broadcasters and government, say I. Now Apple too? Yeah, the puck is going here, but we all don’t play hockey.

FWIW, the reason I bought Apple TV is basically that Front Row isn’t good enough to avoid the keyboard and mouse in the living room. Apple TV has to work completely from the remote, or it’s not fit for purpose. I’m trusting Apple to have made an acceptable product.

(I’m fed up with it not working because iTunes or DVD player or iPhoto has gone into an invisible modal dialogue and isn’t listening to scripted requests. It also makes a lot more sense to me to organise my stuff using a proper computer at a desk, rather than a mini on the big screen.

Another annoyance is that I come home, put the new photos into iPhoto (on my Mac), and people want to see them on the big screen straight away. But iPhoto is already running, and doesn’t pick up the new stuff, so I have to organise keyboard and mouse instead of remote so I can quit out of iPhoto and restart it.

I’ve tried a Momitsu network player that plays stuff off servers running on Mac or PC, but it also isn’t good enough.)

I bought an AppleTV despite the fact that it replicates the functions of other devices I own. My old G4 tower has basically been serving this function already, and in theory the xbox 360 could be used as a video conduit to my 46in DLP, but I know this is going to be a good product.

I was skeptical before I knew it had a Hard Drive. Once I saw that I was going to store.apple.com once every 2 min until it came back up so I could give them my Visa number I forsee that people will have a new, larger HD hacked into it by April at the latest, so even it’s relatively small size doesn’t bother me.

I kinda wish it supported 1080p, but since I haven’t gotten a TV capable of that yet its not too big a deal.