Apple TV Launch: Preemptive Strike Against GoogleTV?

The much-rumored Apple TV (new name, new size, new price) was launched last week. Rumors were around for sometime and I had added my own thoughts here. Disappointment at launch centered around the lack of announcement of TV Apps, and of course there was silence on what OS powers the Apple iTV. We know it runs the same processor as the iPhone4. Technically it can and it is probably running a version of iOS. John Gruber of Daring Fireball has the following comment posted in response to Josh Topolsky’s post on Apple TV on Engadget:

Not so much there, either. The device is running iOS, though, trust me. So it’s possible that some sort of SDK is coming in the future. But I’m not going to hold my breath. Judging from the demo today, I think the fact that it’s running iOS under the hood is just an implementation detail.

Well why the missing story on Apps? I strongly suspect that the launch of the new Apple TV was accelerated as a pre-emptive strike in its battle with Google. Google TV is to be launched in Fall 2010 with no specific dates announced so far. Steve Jobs wants to get his marketing campaign going, and Apple wisely decided to launch without the TV Apps. I think the battle between Google TV and Apple TV will get very interesting this  year – who knows Christmas may bring the Apple App Store to the Apple TV?

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