How Apple May Revolutionize The Way Soccer Fans Experience TV
On September 1, Apple will hold an event for the media where theyre rumored to relaunch their Apple TV product as Apple iTV (or a similar name). While much of the tech world will be waiting in anticipation to find out if the rumor is true, the ramifications for soccer fans could be massive.
If Apples iTV product is as much of a game changer as the iPad and iPhone products are, dont be surprised if the relaunched device could revolutionize TV as we know it.
For soccer fans in the United States who want to their soccer, theres a middle man. The middle man goes by many different names. Sometimes he is Comcast Cable. But he always goes by names such as Verizon FiOS, Time Warner, DISH Network, DirecTV and so on. Many soccer fans in the States would love to get Fox Soccer Channel in HD or Fox Soccer Plus. But most of us cannot unless we want to do business with a different middle man. Goodbye Mr. Comcast. Hello Mr. DirecTV. However, its not always that simple. Sometimes many of us are bound by contracts or are unable to do a deal with Mr. DirecTV because of the type of buildings we live in, etc. And in some cases, the middle man has a monopoly. Its either them or your satellite company.
With Apple iTV, everything could change. If the Apple iTV platform develops apps that can be downloaded on to t! hat devi ce and then played on our television screens, its a game changer. No longer would we have to go through a middle man. Fox Soccer Plus could create an app which would be available to everyone in the United States for a nominal fee. Fox Soccer Channel in HD would be available, too. Goodbye middle man. Consumers could pick and choose which TV apps they would want. HBO, yes. Showtime, yes. PBS, check. And so on and so forth.
The advantage of this type of model is that it puts the consumer in direct contact with the content provider and also allows the customer to only purchase TV apps for the networks or programs he or she chooses to watch. Right now, our cable and satellite systems have hundreds of channels. But if youre like me, I only watch six or seven on a regular basis. The others just take up space and become an annoyance as I have to skip past them to find what I want.
There is still much work to be done before we get to our dream situation where the middle man goes away. For many of us, the middle man will continue to be our ISP and theyre likely to fight with all of their might to keep our business. But just as iTunes changed the music industry, and the iPhone finally brought the mobile web and apps into the mainstream, Apple iTV is set to revolutionize the way we think about video content. Hot on its heels is Google who are planning a late 2010 launch of their Google TV product. But if Apple can announce their relaunched product on September 1, theyll definitely have a head-start and will be able to ride the momentum of their successful iPhone 4 and iPad launches. Soccer fans should pay attention to what happens.
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