Apple TV: A Clear Shot Over the Bow

After all the rumours of Apple taking iOS and with it the App Store to the living room, gamers, developers, publishers and the big three can all breathe a sigh of relief that a fourth box won't be vying for our attention. However, with the rise of Google TV, apps in Samsung TVs and the new and affordable Apple TV, it's become clear that some of the added features to games consoles and their services have suddenly become less unique.

Whilst obviously gamers will always pick the device that plays games, part of the larger appeal of having a games console in the living room was that it did more than game: you could download to own or rent movies, stream Netflix and Sky TV, have access to Hulu and BBC iPlayer, watch DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and listen to your vast CD or MP3 collection, whether stored on the console or streamed over the network from your computer.

However, with the introduction of devices more up to the task of doing these things, the added functionality on games consoles are starting to make them look like jack of all trades devices as opposed to the centre of living room entertainment, which is what they were intended to be. It doesn't have to be this way; games consoles can do everything the Apple TV and its rival devices can, and better. But right now Apple has them outfoxed on a number of fronts: features, interface, brand and price.

The Apple TV has a lot to offer:  the $99/£99 price for the hardware has finally moved it into the realm of affordability, whilst the $3.99/£3.50 HD film rentals are ridiculously cheap, which may seem unstoppable when tied to the Apple and iTunes brand and media hype that surrounds them. Besides offering affordable rentals, the Apple TV also supports network streaming, YouTube and Netflix (and I expect BBC iPlayer to come soon considering the BBC's public service remit demands it), just like the games consoles, but also integrates all these features with a clean, accessible interface.

The consoles, on the other hand, lack the polish and appeal of Apple's latest gadget. Microsoft has hidden most of its features behind the Xbox LIVE Gold paywall, including Netflix in the US and Sky in the UK, which both require separate subscriptions on top, and have refused to allow BBC iPlayer on the principle that they can't charge for it.

In contrast, Sony fares better in the features war, with support for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and soon ITV Player and Mubi in Europe, alongside a buy-to-own video store. However, a lot of these services are disparate and require separate subscriptions ranging from monthly fees for Hulu, Mubi and Netflix, to the TV license for BBC iPlayer and ITV Player. Costs for all of these quickly add up.

Considering the $199/£150 price for the Xbox 360, and $299/£250 for the PlayStation 3, the $99/£99 affordability of Apple TV really sets it apart. Even discounting the fact that the games consoles also play games, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, the price of movie and TV shows is considerably less on Apple TV than on its console rivals, with $3.99/£3.49 HD rentals going up against $5.99 HD film rentals on the HD twins.

And if price and features weren't off-putting to families looking for a new box under their TV, the clean and easy to use interface of the Apple TV puts the NXE and XMB to shame. The Xbox 360's 'New Xbox Experience' — a labyrinth of menus, adverts and headaches — makes marketplace content a chore to find, whilst categorizing, filtering and browsing the content you already own isn't ideal on the PS3's XrossMediaBar.

Also, due to the cachet of Apple devices, going up against them on a brand standpoint is difficult, but Sony and Microsoft seemingly don't care; the Zune Marketplace lacks any relevance outside of America, whilst the newly-announced Qriocity is, quite frankly, Qrap. Trying to imitate iTunes with funny-sounding names really doesn't work since they lose the simplicity of Apple's product branding conventions, instead opting for made up words and phonetic puns.

Nintendo, on the other hand, have made no attempt at putting media features on the Wii, save for allowing BBC to put its iPlayer on the Shop Channel as a free download. A shame, considering the device effectively has a DVD player built in, and part of the Wii's initial appeal to non-gamers was its remote being similar to a TV remote, and its main interface having TV channel motifs. Considering the mass market appeal of the console, having a video rental service built in to the hardware could've led to Nintendo dominating the space long before Apple started taking it seriously.

Of course, it should be stated again that these features are added on to games consoles, as opposed to Apple TV which puts them at the centre of the experience, but if the device is a success, then who is to say Apple won't go after the home console market, as they're currently doing in the handheld gaming space with the iPod Touch?

If the console manufacturers, especially Microsoft and Sony, want to control the living room, then they need to start doing more to get non-gamers using their hardware for non-gaming tasks, or they'll quickly find themselves falling back to being just games consoles, which won't be healthy for them once Apple decides to step on their toes.