Adam Lisagor suggests that the iPad could be the AppleTV he’s always wanted. He lists the iPad’s “Video” app in his argument:
For one, what of the massive $1 billion data center Apple’s building in North Carolina? I’ll just echo what others have speculated: this will be where our video originates when we pluck it out of the sky and siphon it through all our devices (including the cheap, tiny new box that sits by the TV).
For two, if you know the Apple TV interface at all, you can see it easily translating to the iPad’s screen and made to be touched. Gruber remarked after the Apple TV rumor broke that the iPad is far too expensive a remote control for a $99 home theater component. I say he’s right, but as he also says, it won’t be a requirement. The Apple TV will still be controllable by the minimal Apple remote, just as it always has been. But think of the enticement the iPad will present to Apple TV owners once they see it work from an iPad. I’m guessing a 1:1 correlation between the Apple TV iPad app and the Apple TV box, where an interaction on one is reflected on the other, to the point that selecting a movie or TV show from the iPad will make it stream to the TV. From the cloud. Like we’ve always dreamed. This is an inelegant way of saying all the pieces are in place and it will be beautiful. It will be the most beautiful symbiotic halo ever to halo things. The trend shows that in time, iPad-like devices will become commonplace. A $99 extension of a commonplace device will be a no-brainer for a large set of media consumers. When there is clearly a halo effect in place, and it’s not even clear which direction it’s coming from, I think you’ve got a winner on your hands. It could even be that the Apple TV is the lynchpin of the whole operation, the way that iTunes started as a “hobby” that organized our music collection, and revealed itself to be a hub upon which more than one industry was redefined.
So, one more sidetrack: If video is moved off of iTunes, the App Store is a marketplace for apps, and our books are bought in iBooks, could this mean that iTunes could return, gracefully, to serve its original purpose? Could iTunes just be for music? I just blew my mind.
You blew my mind too, Adam.