First, iSuppli has pegged the parts of the Apple TV to sum up to about $64.00 USD, which would then translate into a 35% margin, before the honorary costs of R&D, patent royalties, and marketing kick in. Not too shabby if you’re Apple, and it’s definitely great for consumers. Cheaper manufacturing costs translate into a cheaper device, and given the rate I’ve been buying Apple products this year, a couple dollars in savings here and there adds up. It makes buying that new Apple product just a little bit easier this time around.
On the note of saving a couple of dollars, Apple seems to have a small problem on their hands with the new Apple TV. If you’ve rented from the iTunes store in the past, you’re probably aware that you have 30-days to watch a rental, and only 24-48 hours to watch a video once its started. It seems like the new streaming Apple TV hit a snafu with the system Apple has in place. When you rent a video on your computer, and stream it to the Apple TV, the 24/48 hour time doesn’t kick in at all. It could be a bug, or it could be a feature. Our money’s on the bug, and it’s probably not going to be around too long, so enjoy it while it lasts.
Macrumours is also reporting that the bug exists, and that it’s possible that the timer is now silent, and won’t nag you every time you download a rental. I’d love to test it out directly for you, but TV show rentals and purchases have been mysteriously absent from the Canadian Apple TV.
So if you have any more information on the rental bug, let us know in the comments.
