Former Apple VP Jean-Louis Gassée on the problems in the television industry.
In most locations, cable companies have little or no competition, so there’s no reason for them to do anything more than milk the most profit from a cheap infrastructure. It doesn’t have to be that way. No miracle is required to make our Cable TV experience easy and gratifying.
How can it be fixed?
It’s only too easy to imagine how a next-generation Apple TV could collapse this maze of impenetrable interfaces into one box: Coax in, Wifi and HDMI out and, miracle, one and only one remote! This is something that Apple seems to have the taste and resources to do well.
When will it all change for the better?
Some day, the status quo will break, perhaps as the result of a patient encirclement and infrastructure buildup — a better, vertically integrated Content Delivery Network, both very much compatible with Apple’s playbook… users are becoming increasingly aware of the disconnect between the experience that the cable companies offer and TV Done Right.
So, TV needs a French Revolution.