Open TV platform

Scanning through RSS feeds from last week I found a good number of them referring to Apple TV hack. Apple TV (ATV) was officially released two weeks ago and it has been attracting attention of home brew developers since then. This is just a proof how attractive a platform like ATV can potentially be. Why? Because ATV is a very well designed home computer / media station. It has WiFi connectivity (a must at home). It has a high definition TV output (no yet another screen to mess with). It has local storage (factory mounted 40GB drive can be upgraded to 200GB and more). It has an USB port for potential expansion and a remote control (very important for home use). And it is very compact in form, has cleverly built-in power supply and no noisy fan.

The pity of the original ATV design was its narrow scope - basically coming down to an iTunes media extender. Now it is very refreshing to see how opening the platform can put a new life in the ATV box, by means of independent software creators. I have used two similar (but older generation) products - a Dreambox (Linux - based satellite tuner) and an XBOX (the old one, equipped with the XBMC software). They are both great products, and even greater examples of what a multimedia / entertainment platform can be when opened for developers. But they both lack WiFi (I hate cables!) and - most important - lack high definition output. ATV fixes both issues and brings much more powerful platform to the table. I hope we will soon get a serious open - sourced software platform designed to run on the ATV hardware. Dreambox is just a prelude of what software can do with a proper hardware. Of course there is a question about Apple - will they allow the hacks to exist or will they try to close the platform (as Sony did with PSP 2.0 and later)?

I think Apple should seriously consider leaving the ATV platform open, or even support the open source community. Provided they are already making money on the hardware itself (this is not the case of game consoles, where "Gillette razor" business model sells the hardware at a loss to make money on the "blades"). This could even be a new "iPod" opportunity for Apple. I mean a new product / new business driving the revenues. Just imagine ATV as a platform for Google services. Entertainment (YouTube), personalized news (RSS Reader with video streams), personal Picasa photo albums, messaging / email on TV - a market far extending the reach of traditional personal computers. There are millions of people who do not use PCs, but would spend hours sitting in front of their TVs and navigating the Web with a remote control. Or think video conferencing - ATV has a USB port to plug a microphone / web camera (Skype, are you listening?). Imagine watching your favorite reality show and being visually online with your friends, able to chat and comment... The TV / entertainment is more than just game consoles for kids.

All this and more will not be reached with another PS3/XBOX360/whatever-closed-platform you name. We need a new "open" IBM-PC for the living room. With ATV Apple seems to be close...