Will You Buy An Apple iTV, DVR, Or Cell Phone?

Apple is getting more press from products they don’t actually have than any other technology company.

Are you in the market for Apple’s iTV; the wireless streaming media gizmo? How about an Apple DVR? Or an Apple cell phone. Take the Mac360 survey, see the results.

To no one’s surprise, Apple is invading the living room. Actually, Steve Jobs said Apple has plans to be everywhere, including your pocket.

We could assume he means putting an iPod or an Apple cell phone in your pocket. It may also be that he means Apple will take money out of our pockets.

The hottest future items for Apple are on the roadmap, one officially, some unofficially, still another is speculative.

Are you a buyer, or do you plan to sit on the sidelines?

The three products gathering the most attention for the near future include the pre-announced iTV; Apple’s wireless streaming device.

What iTV is said to do is let you stream audio, music, photos from any Mac to your TV set or home entertainment center.

That’s another $299 out of one pocket and into another? Will you buy an iTV for $299?

That’s the start of our reader survey questions.

Second on the list is a DVR-- digital video recorder. Apple has not yet announced a DVR, and the market is crowded already.

TiVo is what comes to mind when I hear DVR, or PVR-- personal video recorder.

The cable company often provides a DVR for around $10 a month. TiVo’s can be purchased for as little as $50, and another $13 a month.

Would you buy an Apple branded DVR? How much would you pay?

Finally, there’s the cell phone. Most pundits agree that portable music player functionality will get folded into a cell phone.

Therefore, Apple needs to have a cell phone in the product line which doubles as an iPod. Rumors abound of Apple development of just such a pocket product.

But a cell phone is not an iPod. The cell phone market is huge and crowded. Cell phones do a little of everything, but few things well.

Can Apple bring their famed design expertise to the cell phone market?

Would you buy an Apple branded cell phone?

Those are the three topics in this week’s Mac360 Reader Survey.

It’s just three topics, now you get to supply a few answers to the questions in each topic (anonymously, of course). To check out the questions, and click in your response, Click Here.

To see the results on votes by other readers, just Click Here.

My view is straightforward. The iTV wireless streaming product is a no brainer, and if it works with iTunes and Windows, will be a big seller.

I think Apple will stay out of the DVR waters for awhile, not wanting to irritate TV show and movie content providers by offering a product that records their media but does not offer a revenue stream.

Finally, the other no-brainer is the Apple cell phone. The question isn’t if Apple will do it, the question is when we’ll see an iPod in an Apple cell phone.

Regardless, take the survey and check the responses.

Oh, one more thing. I came across an interesting article about Apple’s missing DVR. I’m not so sure it’s missing. Click Here for my view and some interesting analysis.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

Off Topic #58 - Do politicians use personal computers? Of course. We’ve heard Barack Obama prefers a Mac, while Hillary Clinton uses a Dell, though, apparently neither of the candidates can bowl. Does Obama’s potential vice president use a Mac? Even Clinton acknowledges Apple’s brand power but says she can’t afford a Mac. Maybe she’d win if she used a Mac.

Off Topic #23 & #18 - Want to speed up your Mac? Try Kate MacKenzie’s approach to the $7.99 speed increase. Do you have a back up system for your Mac? Kate’s PixoBebo shows you how to use Time Machine with SuperDuper! for the ultimate Mac back up. And she doesn’t even charge Mac360 readers to visit her site.