NBC breaks ties with Apple - iTivo where are you?

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NBC and Apple have lately had disagreement on pricing of NBC’s content on the iTunes store. NBC wanted to have higher prices and Apple would not have it. They were unable to come to an agreement and NBC pulled the plug on Apple. Though the contract technically ends in December, Apple has decided to not have anymore NBC content on their iTunes store effective immediately. NBC signed an agreement shortly thereafter to have their content sold via Amazon’s Unbox service.

Amazon’s Unbox has a nice tie-up with Tivo. Since I just purchased a Tivo this is of interest to me. However from a business perspective I think Apple will lose many potential customers. iTunes is a powerhouse in online distribution. I doubt Unbox will be a perfect substitute for that distribution channel.

The whole situation made me think. My Tivo gets updates periodically. I can even have other “server” type apps running on my Windows machine that my Tivo can talk to. The point is its software updatable. If Apple did the same with their Apple TV they could potentially turn it into a DVR system. You could buy your music/movies online. You could record your shows. It would be a killer box. DVR’s have been around a long time. Tivo is great. However I find the Tivo to be a bit slow in processing. It doesn’t have the strength of Apple’s brand or its cult following.

If Apple bought Tivo, they’d gain access to all its current subscribers. Apple would no doubt pump up the hardware with their own design. They could also replace the interface completely with their own clean design. Apple could do it. Actually the best thing would be for Apple to license Tivo. After all its not the hardware that makes Tivo great. Its just software. Will it happen? Probably not. My guess is Apple doesn’t want you to DVR stuff when they can sell it to you.