Apple TV isn't 1080p and you shouldn't care
The refreshed Apple TV sports a new design, Netflix streaming, and low price, but like the old model, Apple's streaming video box is still limited to 720p content. While that means the Apple TV loses the spec war to competitors like the Xbox 360 and Vudu …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's second-generation Apple TV is a deliberate reversal of its own 2008 playbook. The "take 2" relaunch of January 2008 positioned the box as a premium hub for purchased HD content, and iLounge's comparison against Blu-ray, DVD and HD cable framed it as an expensive bet on downloads over discs. The 2010 refresh abandons that framing: a new design, a much lower price, and Netflix streaming shift the product from media server to inexpensive streaming appliance.
First-order effects
- Buyers get a cheap Netflix streaming box for the living room, but Apple concedes the headline video spec outright: at 720p max, the new Apple TV loses on paper to the 1080p-capable Xbox 360 and Vudu.
Second-order effects
- Vudu and Microsoft are forced to argue value beyond resolution — catalogs, rentals, extras — because Apple has just made the spec comparison irrelevant by undercutting them on price while accepting the 720p ceiling.
- Content owners gain a wider distribution channel: Netflix streaming baked into a mass-market Apple device pushes studios toward licensing streaming rights alongside, and potentially instead of, disc sales.
Third-order effects
- If buyers accept 720p at a low price, living-room competition shifts from hardware spec sheets to who controls the content relationship — a structural contest between device makers acting as storefronts and services like Netflix owning the subscription.
- The pattern also sets a template for how Apple treats this category: ship deliberately behind rivals on raw specs when the ecosystem argument carries the sale.
The trend: Living-room video is moving from a hardware spec race to a contest over content ecosystems, where price and library access outweigh resolution.