Sorenson Joins Video Codec Conversation at Open Video Conference

Sorenson Media's CTO, Mike Flathers, will represent our company at the Open Video Conference in New York City starting tomorrow (and running on Saturday as well). The topic of Mike's panel is the complexity and confusion surrounding video codecs. Here is our official press release -- click here.

I recently wrote about the subject -- in particular, the mistaken belief by most users of FFmpeg that no license is required from MPEG LA (the consortium that licenses the video standard H.264). Make no mistake -- MPEG LA, and other patent holders, absolutely consider non-licensed use of open source codecs infringe on their patents. Here is my widely circulated blog post on the subject -- click here.

AOL Crunches Tech's Editorial Objectivity?

Everyone reading this already knows that THE technology blog of all blogs -- Michael Arrington's TechCrunch -- was acquired today by AOL. A source indicates (not all that precisely I admit) that the price tag was $30-$50 million on annual revenues of approximately $10 million (i.e., a multiple of 3X-5X).

So, what does this mean to TechCrunch's and, in particular, Arrington's editorial objectivity, freedom and unapologetic overall brashness? THAT is the question for those of us who read TechCrunch everyday and throughout the day.

Here's Arrington's response to these questions:

"Tim [Armstrong, AOL's CEO] told me that he doesn’t want whatever makes TechCrunch special to go away. He also said it was important that we feel free to criticize AOL when we think they deserve it. And the agreement we signed with AOL fully reflects this."

There it is -- there will be no impact -- no changes in editorial tone or subject matter. Case closed, right?

Well ... uh ... no. Ain't that easy of course.

No matter what an agreement says -- and no matter what Michael and Tim say to each other (or any human being in this situation for that matter) -- AOL's ownership of TechCrunch will permeate deeply within the souls of all associated with the Crunch and have a butterfly effect on everything they write. Sometimes they will under-report about AOL; sometimes they will over-report on AOL. Sometimes they will under-report or over-report on AOL competitors. And sometimes they simply will be too soft or too hard on AOL and/or their competitors. When this happens, usually it won't be intentional. It simply will be due to the basic underlying fact that TechCrunch no longer is what it was before today.

Private ... and independent.

One more important thing. As a private independent company, TechCrunch essentially had to function like the start-ups they cover. So, they "feel" what it's like to be fully entrepreneurial and resource constrained. That all changes with AOL, as Arrington himself notes (which is a factor that he says motivated him to sell). That kind of entrepreneurial drive and tenacity are significant contributors to the power of TechCrunch. Now, the pressure is off.

No one's fault. It's simply a case of -- in the inimitable words of the great news purveyor himself, Walter Cronkite -- "That's the way it is ...."

(NOW, to be clear, this does not mean that it won't be possible for the Crunch to largely retain its voice and continue to be relevant. This is no new affliction after all. Jon Stewart, one of my favorite kings of brashness, works for "the man" (Comedy Central, a Viacom Company). Certainly, he too faces similar pressures, both explicit and implicit. Yet, he certainly seems to express his full "voice" on a nightly basis. But, we never know, of course, what stories or bits were cut -- or added -- or changed -- as a result of this relationship. And, Arrington himself points to News Corp's acquisition of The Wall Street Journal and the Journal's newly cozy relationship with Murdoch.)

Let's Meet in London -- Our Largest Revenue Generating City (By Far)

A number of us from Sorenson Media will be trekking to London in a couple weeks (October 13-15) to participate in the Streaming Media Europe show. Here is today's press release. If you would like to schedule a meeting, please reach out directly to me at bizdev@sorensonmedia.com.

Interestingly, London is by far our company's single most important city from a revenue generating standpoint (about 1/3 more than New York City, our second largest revenue generator). And, Europe in general accounts for approximately 30% of our overall online revenues (and about 33% of our web traffic). What makes this remarkable is that, to date, we have focused little to no of our marketing efforts outside of our U.S. borders -- underscoring the power of the "Sorenson Media" brand. This will change in 2011, as we make an aggressive push overseas in both Europe and APAC.

Here are more statistics from today's press release -- click here.

MUSE-ical Tour de Force

Forgive my two back to back posts about music (but there must be a digital media link somewhere ...).

Saturday night, I traveled to LA to see MUSE in concert at the Staples Center. This is the second time I have seen the band live -- the first being at Coachella earlier this year.

The verdict?

MUSE delivered. Not as impressive as Coachella (I mean, how can you top that backdrop?), but as bombastic and bold as ever. The band -- three members -- emerged on separate "towers" which elevated up and down throughout the show; and the multi-media show was impressive. MUSE has some great music, although I am not a huge fan. But, as theater, MUSE's concerts are second to none. As I wrote after my exhausting weekend at Coachella, MUSE now holds the mantle of being the best band to see live.

Ours -- The Best Band You Never Heard Of -- Angsty, Artsy & Awesome

Occasionally I deviate from my digital media musings to write about something that strikes me in the world of music (speaking of musings, I am off to LA on Saturday to see MUSE in concert -- a band that blew me away at Coachella and are undeniably the kings of arena bombastic rock right now). As one example, I recently wrote about one of my favorite bands, Arcade Fire, and their outstanding new album "The Suburbs."

This time I write about Ours. Who? Ours.

That's right, you have never heard of them. And, they don't have a new album out. But, if you like rock and roll on the "dark" angsty side, then you will love this band (here is the link to their MySpace page). They are fresh in my mind because I just ran to their music last night.

The band has three albums -- "Distorted Lullabies" (you know where there music is going when that's the title of their album), "Precious", and "Mercy ... Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy" (wow, now THAT's a title!). All three can be streamed on Rhapsody -- and all three are outstanding.

Lead singer Jimmy Gnecco -- who has "amazing pipes" (that's the way one of my former colleagues at Musicmatch described him) -- has a new solo album out now called "The Heart." I haven't given that yet a listen, but that is happening later today.

Enjoy.

Encoding is a Commodity Only When It Isn't

Yesterday, I blogged about important business aspects of -- and very real risks associated with -- encoding.

But, how about encoding itself and its role in online video distribution?

Encoding, according to industry guru Dan Rayburn of Streaming Media, is a "commodity." So, encoding is simply a check box in the overall online video value change and workflow, right? Pick a solution and move on.

Wrong.

As Rayburn points out, encoding (together with other aspects of the video workflow) is a "commodity" only if it isn't differentiated. In other words, the act of encoding video is commoditized -- hey, there are lots of video encoding solutions out there. But, the ability to stand out -- and differentiate in meaningful ways -- is where value is created. And, because encoding is a critical part of the video eco-system (it's where all that great quality can be lost), choosing the right differentiated encoding solution is essential.

That's why Rayburn says "Commoditization" is not a dirty word -- rather, companies should embrace it. According to Rayburn, quality differentiation absolutely does matter -- and matters a lot. Performance matters. A lot. And, functionality matters.

In Rayburn's own words:

"Encoding is completely commoditized but that's not to say that the quality of encoding is the same amongst all of the different services in the market."

And, let's not forget other critical differentiation on the business side, including the business risks associated with encoding if not done right. As I pointed out yesterday, FFmpeg and other encoding solutions do not utilize officially sanctioned codecs like H.264 -- that means real business risk. So, encoding differentiation and value creation flows from those solutions -- like ours -- that use only officially sanctioned and licensed codecs. Let's also not forget the peace of mind that flows from working with a long-trusted brand. There's a lot of value to be placed in knowing you're in good hands. And, that you will get the support you need -- including live bodies -- from real encoding experts.

Obviously, I couldn't agree more that commoditization in the marketplace is a great place from which to stand out. That's why my company is here. We spend a lot of time on differentiation -- of value creation -- on helping you preserve the great quality videos that you spent so much time producing in the first place (we have spent a decade plus to add develop our award-winning differentiated video encoding solutions). We place our customers -- and listening to their feedback -- as top priorities so that we can focus on continuing to add the value and differentiation they need so that their videos can stand out -- safely and without risk -- against the fray.

Think H.264 is Now Royalty-Free? Think Again - and the "Open Source" Defense is No Defense to MPEG LA

(PREFACE -- I have wanted to write this post for a long, long time. It is about encoding -- but not the technical aspects of encoding and the quality ramifications of your encoding solution. It is, instead, about what I believe to be a widely misunderstood -- and serious --business implication surrounding your encoding solution. Specifically, it is about licensing ... and business risk. As dry as it sounds, I urge you to read it, because those risks are real.)

With that -- here it is ...

Ahh, the promise of web and mobile video – HD video delivered anytime, anywhere, on any device. It sounds so easy. But, it isn’t. The overall workflow is complex – and the process from content creation to content syndication is both a technical and business minefield.

One central and critical piece in that workflow -- video encoding and transcoding – is one such minefield, fully appreciated by only a few. This is, in part, due to the fact that it sounds incredibly techie and complex. And, in many respects, it is. But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t understand it. Encoding and transcoding is the process of compressing your video files so that they can be delivered anywhere you want (on the Internet, onto mobile devices). It is a morass, plain and simple -- and it is fraught with complexity, confusion and, yes, peril. This complexity and confusion is only accelerating in this day and age where we see an unending string of new platforms and products – not to mention new codecs, such as Google’s newly launched open source WebM codec initiative.

Case in point, the new battle royale brewing between said WebM (and its VP8 video codec) – the burly upstart in this case – and MPEG LA’s MPEG-4 (and its H.264 video codec), the reigning heavyweight champion. H.264 is widely regarded as being the current “gold standard” high quality video codec – it is used by Apple, among others, to deliver pristine HD quality videos (Apple, in fact, is a member of the MPEG LA patent consortium). Google, as we all know, wants to unseat the champ by offering its newly sponsored high quality codec free to the world (I know it sounds incredibly generous, but Google has its own reasons, believe me).

Here’s the crucial rub – MPEG LA’s H.264 isn’t free – it is a royalty-bearing codec that requires a license.

But, you say, MPEG LA recently announced that it will no longer charge royalties for the use of H.264. Yes, it’s true – MPEG LA recently bowed to mounting pressure from, and press surrounding, WebM and announced something that kind of sounds that way. But, I caution you to read the not-too-fine print. H.264 is royalty-free only in one limited case – for Internet video that is delivered free to end users. Read again: for (1) Internet delivery that is (2) delivered free to end users. In the words of MPEG LA’s own press release, “Products and services other than [those] continue to be royalty-bearing.”

But, you may ask (understandably confused by it all), what does that mean to me and why does this matter? Here’s why – any business that publishes and distributes its videos onto the Internet or across mobile networks (and that likely includes yours) is encoding those videos either themselves or, more likely, via a third party encoding service or online video platform (OVP). And – big gulp here -- encoders and decoders are specifically called out in MPEG LA’s recent press release as continuing to be fully royalty-bearing. That means that MPEG LA absolutely takes the position that H.264 cannot be used for encoding without a license – and that means royalty payments in certain high volume cases. And, those royalties aren’t cheap – meaning that potential legal exposure for both past and present unlicensed usage can be significant … very significant ... in high volume cases if that license is not obtained.

Now, your business, encoding service or OVP may take the position that no license is needed from MPEG LA for encoding, because they utilize FFmpeg, the best known open source video encoding solution in the marketplace. Many, if not most, professional encoding services an OVPs, in fact, do use FFmpeg. And, FFmpeg, in turn, features X.264, an open source video codec implementation of MPEG LA’s H.264 royalty-bearing video codec. X.264 is not H.264, so no MPEG LA license is required. Sounds rational, right?

Perhaps, but predictably MPEG LA, its consortium of patent holders and other licensing bodies vehemently – and I mean vehemently -- take the position that open source implementations of their codecs absolutely infringe (remember, this risk is not exclusive to MPEG-LA and its codecs). In their view, there is no free pass! Let’s face it – patent holders and their licensing bodies are in the business of getting paid – they are not in the business of philanthropy. MPEG LA, in fact, continues to make “noises” that even Google’s royalty free WebM gift to the world (which resulted from its acquisition of On2 and its VP8 video codec) infringes the rights of its patent holders. In effect, MPEG LA is telling WebM users “Buyers Beware!” (Surprising, huh, that MPEG LA consortium member Apple and Google disagree on this one?)

Don’t believe those risks are real? Take a look at FFmpeg’s own official website. Right there – in plain sight – FFmpeg not only acknowledges those risks, it expressly cautions its users that any commercial usage (which is what we are talking about here) is at their own peril. Specifically, here is FFmpeg’s official word on the subject in the form of a relevant Q&A that is taken verbatim from its website:

Q: Is it perfectly alright to incorporate the whole FFmpeg core into my own commercial product? 


A: You might have a problem here. There have been cases where companies have use FFmpeg in their products. These companies found out that once you start trying to make money from patented technologies, the owners of the patents will come after their licensing fees. Notably, MPEG LA is vigilant and diligent about collecting for MPEG-related technologies.

So, there it is. Right there. Thousands of companies use and rely upon FFmpeg right now to encode their videos (either directly or indirectly via an encoding service or OVP) for commercial purposes without a net; without the codec licenses and royalties that patent holders and licensing bodies contend are needed and must be paid. This is not meant to cause panic – it is simply meant to open eyes to one highly misunderstood and overlooked reality in this highly complex world of web and mobile video.

So, what’s a business to do if its videos are encoded with FFmpeg? Stop distributing those videos across the web or across mobile networks? Absolutely not – video is simply too impactful and, for most businesses, should be a central piece of its customer engagement and monetization strategy.

But, if your business does do video, do it smartly. Cover all your bases. Don’t take short-cuts. Ask questions. Ask your encoding service provider or OVP if they use officially sanctioned and licensed codecs. If they don’t, then you may want to switch. You are not immune from the risks that they take in the minds of patent holders (MPEG LA confirms this). At the very least, if you decide that switching costs are too great, then you may want to ask your service provider or OVP for indemnification of those risks. But, depending on the size of your service provider, that may be cold comfort.

Bottom line – your videos are valuable. They need to be in the right hands (both on the technical and business side). The video landscape is complex enough as it is. You need simplicity and peace of mind, not more headaches. Potential legal exposure is not another complexity you need. Use a solution that dots the “I’s” and crosses the “T’s.”

Cloud Computing -- Bad for Seagate & Other Traditional Hard Drive Storage Providers, Right? You Couldn't Be More Wrong!

Cloud computing -- that's where it's all going (all data). Our video solutions at Sorenson Media -- much like an accelerating number of service providers -- are hosted in the Cloud. This is nothing new and is not blog-worthy.

Lost by most in these discussions, however, is the impact of Cloud computing on traditional storage providers like Seagate. Most believe that the Cloud spells doom for Seagate and other traditional providers of hard drives and storage solutions. But, this couldn't be further from the truth -- it is just the opposite. Seagate - a massive player in the "traditional" storage space -- is foaming at the mouth over what the Cloud means to them -- that is, massive dependency on its storage solutions that the Cloud depends upon to store all of your data. (For Seagate's own perspective on the Cloud's impact on its business, click here). And, the pace of data generation is beyond exponential -- it is other-worldly.

I started thinking about all of this the other day when someone told me that there will be 40 exabytes of new information generated this year alone worldwide -- more than in the previous 5,000 years of human existence. This blew my mind. Good for Seagate and others? Unbelievably good. (By the way, in case you didn't know -- shocking, I know! -- an exabyte (EB) is 1 quintillion bytes, 1 billion gigabytes or 1 million terabytes. YIKES!

But, that person who quoted me those interesting factoids was wrong -- wrong in the right direction for Seagate! Rather than 40 EB of new information generated this year, analyst firm IDC estimates that 4X that amount (i.e., 161 EB) of new data was created in 2006 (that is, 4 years ago)! According to the IDC authors, that is "3 million times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written."

And, our friends at Cisco -- in a June 2009 report -- forecast that annual IP traffic will reach 2/3 of a zettabyte (ZB) by 2013. For all you sports-fans out there, that is 667 EB of traffic to you! Cisco further forecasts that Internet video will generate more than 18 EB of data each month by 2013!

Why all the exclamation marks in this post? Because these numbers are mind-boggling (to me at least).

And, they are great not only for Cisco and Seagate, they are great for those in the Internet video eco-system (including my company).

Hey, my little post right here is one small step for EB-kind!

Sorenson Squeezes New 6.5 -- Our Free Upgrade to Existing Squeeze 6 Users

I am pleased to report that my company, Sorenson Media, has just launched our long-anticipated new upgrade of our best-selling desktop encoding application -- Squeeze 6.5. And, best of all, it is free to all of our existing users of Squeeze 6. Here is the link to our official press release.

New features include AVCHD decoding (AVCHD is the most common HD video encoding format for the prosumer and high-end consumer market), significant new filters (including enhanced and faster de-interlacing, optimized color conversion, and image rotation) and new direct publishing to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in addition to YouTube, Twitter, Limelight, Akamai, FTP sites, and our Sorenson 360 online video platform (seamless integration into Sorenson 360 comes default and is complimentary).

Importantly, Squeeze 6.5 also comes with a host of overall enhancements and "fixes" that resulted directly from the input of our users. We know that Squeeze 6 -- while good -- encountered performance and stability issues for some of you. And, believe me, we absolutely listen to all of your candid feedback (and act on it). I personally seek out technical and customer support updates on a regular basis and challenge the team to address frustrations with our products, because we are absolutely committed to customer satisfaction as Job 1. That's why we give personalized support to every one of our users.

And, that's why Squeeze 6.5 is a significant free update for existing Squeeze 6 users. We are absolutely committed to developing the best products and video solutions -- and, we know we don't always hit the mark with every feature of every product. But, we do listen -- and we learn. And, we continuously strive to be better -- and the best video encoding solutions period (including our brand new Sorenson Squeeze Server Edition that is in private beta now).

We hope you like what you see. And, whether you do or don't, I want to hear your feedback. Send it to my attention at bizdev@sorensonmedia.com

Happy encoding!

Sony's New Streaming Service Hopes NOT to CONNECT the Dots (to Death)

Netflix, Blockbuster, iTunes, Google TV, Hulu and a host of others -- all now offer movies and television shows on demand either via streaming services or via downloads. And, they are catching on in a big big way in the living room now. (I recently blogged about my own mostly stellar "Watch Instantly" experience in the living room with Netflix.)

So, what's a consumer electronics/television company like Sony to do? Join the party, that's what. And, Sony is doing just that, recently announcing that its own streaming service -- with the ridiculous unpronounceable name "Qriocity" -- is expanding into Europe (apparently the service has been alive in the U.S. since April, but I have never heard anyone widely talk about it previously). Qriocity (which apparently intends to be pronounced "curiosity") is initially bundled in all-in-one PlayStation 3 units. It soon, however, will also come as standard equipment in Sony flat screen TVs and DVRs (with the goal of infiltrating your living rooms).

But, will Sony's Chairman Howard Stringer be joining you anytime soon on your living room couch (in the same way that Apple's Steve Jobs likely will be in the months ahead with iTunes and Apple's own inevitable all-in-one (non set-top box) TV)?

My Magic 8-Ball says "all signs point to NO."

Remember Sony's ill-fated iTunes wannabee music service "Connect"? Likely you don't. And that's the problem.

Connect ... umm ... absolutely failed to connect with customers. Sony should have gotten it right and rivaled iTunes, but they didn't. They were late to the party, and they didn't behave well when they got there (the Connect service itself paled in comparison to iTunes in terms of the overall user experience). So, Sony ultimately drove a stake in its heart and killed it.

In my view, history will repeat itself here, much to Sony's (and Stringer's) dismay. Qriocity already is late to the party -- Netflix and iTunes, as examples, began to establish themselves online long ago and are highly respected brands that already are available to many consumers. That means those consumers already are invested in those services and will not switch to Qriocity unless Sony's service is able to "do" something radically different -- like offer a much deeper pool of content (which I don't foresee). And, if Sony's name choice for its service is any indication (Qriocity? Yikes!), then the overall user experience itself will once again pale in comparison to others.

So, my prediction is that Qriocity will CONNECT the dots to the same fate of that vanquished predecessor service.

Somewhere Over the Double Rainbow ...

I finally watched the now infamous "Double Rainbow" video which has now been viewed over 14 million times. If you haven't seen it, here it is -- click here.

Now, like you, I came close to shedding tears when watching -- not for the same reasons that the Double Rainbow guy did (he was actually wailing) -- but rather because I (like you) was laughing so hard. Absolutely hilarious.

In retrospect, however (and after putting aside the fact that his reaction certainly may not have been solely induced by the rainbow itself but by other "natural" stimuli), the basic thrust remained -- i.e., this guy was marveling at the sheer beauty of his surroundings. Yes, true -- his reaction is a bit over-the-top -- but he was certainly living in the moment. He was certainly taking in the beauty of his immediate surroundings. He was certainly not rushing off to find the next big moment.

And, there is a certain lesson to be learned there. Take time to stop every now and then -- appreciate what you have. It is extremely challenging to do, but it is an important thing to do nonetheless.

(Okay -- but still -- the video is absolutely hilarious!)

Summer Over -- Year-End Sprint Begins

It's that time of year again -- back 2 school (in fact, my kids start today), Labor Day behind us, unofficial end of summer upon us, and the holiday season is ahead of us (not far).

That means it's year-end sprint time (as if the tech world ever rests!).

Over the course of the next several months, you will see much from us here at Sorenson Media. This begins tomorrow with a significant product announcement. I will keep you readers of my blog ahead of the curve with these developments.

So, stay tuned -- I am definitely excited about what tricks we have up our sleeve. Our team is on it. But, at the end of the day, what matters most is whether we satisfy your needs. And, I always want direct feedback.

Send any candid thoughts, feedback, suggestions, complaints directly to my attention at bizdev@sorensonmedia.com

And, stay thirsty my friends for upcoming developments.

My First Week with the iPhone 4 -- Delight Mixed with Frustration

After 10 years with the Blackberry, I made the Benedict Arnoldian switch to the iPhone 4 last week. It has now been about 1 week with the iPhone -- a schizophrenic experience of pure delight at the power of technology done right; and frustration at basic things that aren't.

The iPhone 4 is an amazing multi-tasking mini-computer that is incredibly addictive and fun to use. It is my mobile email, text, web experience, pocket video and still camera, digital music player, remote control for my home music system, and so much more -- including FaceTime mobile video chat and "See What I'm Seeing" (something I was long anticipating given my time previously running video chat leader SightSpeed). How cool is that?

Oh yes, it also is a "phone" ...

... and that's where the frustration, like most people, lies. In the past week, I would say that about 75% of my calls have dropped (no exaggeration!). And, even worse, about 90% of my calls between my wife and I (she too has an iPhone 4) also have dropped -- multiple times in many aborted conversations. Is AT&T solely to blame for this as the Apple faithful would lead us to believe? My wife's and my guess is "no." There's got to be a continuing problem with the iPhone 4, even with our protective antenna-gate solving cases (we both have them). My wife previously was a long-time iPhone 3 user, and she swears that she rarely, if ever, experienced dropped calls then.

And, apart from dropped calls, the iPhone 4 itself has had its issues, most disturbing of which was that it went completely dark -- black screened -- on me yesterday for no reason at all. It was fully charged, sitting there on my desk -- and, when I wanted to use it to make an actual phone call (a dicey proposition as discussed above), there simply was no response. Dead. Period. Just when I was about to whisk my away over to the Apple store in an emergency plight (since my mobile phone is my life-line), thankfully one of my colleagues came to the rescue and showed me how to re-boot -- and that worked. But, re-booting my new iPhone after only 1 week? Raises some red flags for me. I will be watching that closely.

Finally, as much as I appreciate the touch screen in so many respects, I am having massive problems adapting to the virtual keyboard. I am a rabid mobile emailer (for which the Blackberry was great), and the small virtual keyboard on the iPhone is killing me so far. Hopefully, I will adapt.

One more thing, the touch screen is certainly not infallible. I frequently need to tap twice or three times before I get a response -- or slide my finger several times before the screen whisks me over to another screen.

Nonetheless, because perhaps I -- like all of us -- are in the mind grip of Apple and Jobs these days, I still love the iPhone 4. It is an incredibly elegant demonstration of the power and beauty that is possible with great technology and vision.

"iTV" - The Headline That Wasn't There - Here's Why

The single most important headline from yesterday's Jobs-ian Apple event was no headline at all -- it was the headline that wasn't there -- i.e., "iTV."

Everyone and his/her brother/sister in the tech world predicted that Apple's re-tooled Apple TV set-top box would be re-christenend "iTV."

Only it wasn't. And, here's why.

"Apple TV" as we know it today (even as re-tooled yesterday) is still a "hobby" (the words Jobs used to describe his set-top box previously). The main event absolutely will be an "iTV", but not anything like we know it today. "iTV" will be Jobs' full living room vision ... finally realized.

Mark my words -- Apple will introduce an all-in-one flat screen TV (i.e., no set-top box needed) into the marketplace by Christmas 2012 at the latest (hey, let's be bold -- Apple will launch iTV by Christmas 2011). And, Jobs will christen THAT device "iTV." Think of it as a much larger version of the iPad on your living room's wall. At that point, Jobs' evolution of Apple's ever-expanding vision will be complete -- first, the small screen version (iPhone, iTouch); then, the mid-size version (iPad -- where video is the "killer app"); and finally, the flat screen version (iTV).

So, Jobs and friends could not re-name its streamlined new set-top box "iTV" (despite expectations to the contrary), precisely because they needed to reserve the "iTV" moniker for their ultimate grander realization of the living room dream! The re-tooled Apple TV simply will bridge the gap until Jobs is ready to make his inevitable leap!

I have always believed that Apple will make this inevitable all-in-one move into the living room beyond its current self-proclaimed Apple TV "hobby" (and have blogged about it several times -- click here to read more about the reasons why). The living room opportunity is simply too massive -- Jobs wants to be sitting next to you on your living room couch and own that final frontier. And, because it is an Apple flat screen -- captained by the almighty Jobs -- people will be clamoring for it. And, they will be willing to pay top dollar and with significantly higher margins for Apple than for other flat screens.

For all of these reasons, I scratched my head several times before Jobs' stage show yesterday wondering why -- if expectations rang true -- he would re-brand his re-tooled set-top box "iTV" if his ultimate plan was to release a set-top box-less unified flat screen. That never made sense to me. It would be illogical and ill-advised to slap that set-top box-laden "iTV" name onto a completely different product vision.

Well, guess what -- he didn't. And, that's why he didn't. Because "iTV" will see the light of day on another day ... and on another stage ...

As they say, "stay tuned" and start lining up now to buy your new iTV in Xmas 2011.