Apple TV Just Got Serious

Maybe it was a coincidence that in the span of two days Hulu Plus came to Apple TV, and Amazon Instant Video and Sky Now TV both came to iPad. But Brian Barrett of Gizmodo doesn't think so. "That makes three major content providers—read: competitors—that Apple's embraced in two days," he writes. "This is a major change in attitude for Apple, a company that's kept a dragon-filled moat around its content castle since the foundation stone was laid."

Apple has always reportedly held off Hulu and Amazon to avoid jeopardizing iTunes sales, which make Apple much more money than Apple TV. But now Apple's "chasing bigger game," Barrett theorizes. Apple sold more Apple TVs last quarter than iMacs and Mac Pros combined. Now imagine it had real content, iOS apps, a real Apple marketing push. "Why would you ever get a Roku then?" Apple could announce those things in six weeks—"and with them, the conquering of your living room." (More Apple TV stories.)