After the long wait and disappointment of repeated delays, the Apple TV has finally started shipping.

According to Engadget, emails have been sent to those who preordered the Apple TV from the shipping companies and tracking numbers have been duly supplied. So what can we expect under the Apple TV's hood anyway? High definition 720p (and of course standard as well), PC or Mac connection (up to five), downloads via iTunes, a 40GB hard-drive and an Intel processor.

We'll see in the long run how the Apple TV will be received by consumers, right after it gets delivered to their doorstep.

Watch out TiVo and Netfix, Apple's got a big bomb with your names chalked on them and they're dropping it real soon. An estimated 22 million Apple and PC users are expected to join the craze and take the switch.

It may not have all the blings that the iPhone will pack, but the Cupertino-based company behind the iPod may have found the perfect marriage between table-top TV accessory TiVo and mail-based DVD subscription Netfix. The two services have 13.2 million subscribers combined, but financial analyst Jonathan Hoopes says the market will expand dramatically over the next few years and Apple will capitalize on the phenomenon.

 

The concept behind the Apple TV is simple: The box allows users to view media from their iPods on a big screen. That means that iTunes can be harnessed to buy digital content online and watch it comfortably in a home theatre.

The ThinkEquity Partners analyst commended the structural simplicity of the Apple TV and explained "we think the AppleTV/iTunes combination could become as disruptive to legacy video purchase-and-consumption behavior as the iPod/iTunes combination has been to the traditional music business model."

The growth that Apple TV will foster may very well be to the tune of billion in market capitalization for Apple, and Hoopes added that it's very possible that the masters pf Macintosh will join the gaming scene in the future.

  

Way back last June, we talked about how Miglia would give Mac users a HDTV treat thanks to its nifty contraption called TVMini HD. Now that Apple TV is all geared up for its mid-March release, reports abound that Apple is planning on buying Miglia to add DVR capabilities to Apple TV and iTunes.

Apparently, the makers of the Miglia mini HD had been talking with the Cupertino camp, and from the looks of it, the talks have been friendly (and profitable perhaps?). According to Blackfriar's Carl Howe,

The fact that the Miglia TVMini HD+ is an external USB device allows Apple to integrate the function without having to send the Apple TV back to the FCC for recertification. But why buy the company though? Well, you're going to need some serious software integration on the iTunes end to recognize the Miglia device and use it properly. That's not exactly in Apple's interest if Miglia remains completely independent.

He does have a point with that. But for now, nothing is concrete which means that this topic is very open to speculation. We'll update you for further developments about this tidbit.

Mac fans have been waiting for their pre-ordered Apple TV, sometimes nicknamed iTV, since January. This is because a lot of delays have pushed the product's release from it's originally planned date of launch.

Now, Apple sends its word of reassurance saying that the Apple TV will begin shipping by mid-March. Apple has never really issued an official explanation for the delays. There's been a lot of speculation as to why the release dates keep getting postponed, but people familiar with the matter have figured out that NVIDIA is the source of last month's delay.

Apparently, some quirks in the embedded graphics software has had Apple's quality assurance people raise some last minute warnings. Just take it as a sign that those Apple guys are always in the lookout for their clients' satisfaction.

Since the software update of Quicktime and the accompanying Apple media suite, iTunes received AppleTV support for Internet streamed television. It came with fixes to security issues, too, plus new upgrades to features that makes navigating through music, shows and movies a piece of cake.

But what struck many iTunes users odd was that particular AppleTV ratings preference that included Australia and New Zealand. So does that mean that Kiwi and Ozzy TV shows could be legally downloaded off the Net? Given Steve Jobs' reputation and antics, it's difficult to predict what Apple has planned for iTunes this time.

But a big question looms over which channel they're going to get the shows from. Word around the Net is that ABC's Channel 9 is a big bet. We think it's highly unlikely, as some forums claimed that a particular TV service from nineMSN (Channel 9), Catch-up TV, is closing down and will be replaced by something else. While this should be supportive of the rumor, let's get real for a moment: Microsoft is willing to have their service replaced by one from Apple? Riiiighhht.

One of the hottest rumors going around the Intertubes these days is that the Apple TV will be able to play games. The main cannon, or "smoking gun," if you will, used in defense of this theory is MacScoop's claim that an internal iTunes file provides clear evidence that the Apple TV will indeed be capable of playing games.

The iTunes file in question contains the strings that appear in dialog boxes. One string in particular reads, "Are you sure you want to sync games? All existing games on the Apple TV "^1" will be replaced with games from this iTunes library." MacUser, however, contends that this string of code is hardly any evidence.

According to MacUser, anybody who takes a quick look at the file /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings will find that the section of strings that applies to the Apple TV is "pretty much identical to the section of strings for the iPod (with, of course, all instances of "iPod" replaced with "Apple TV")."

Hence, MacUser says, the only thing the whole "string theory" proves is that "the developer in charge of updating the strings knows how to use copy/paste and find/replace." Of course, Apple could still bring games to the Apple TV in the future, but as MacUser says, Apple is more likely to announce the feature with much fanfare, not hiding it in a text file.

 

On to some non-iPhone related news, for a change - although it could be because of all that lavish attention being, well, lavished on Apple's newest darling. Reuters reports that the launch of the Apple TV streaming box has been delayed from end-of-the-month expectations to mid-March.

We don't know what slipped. "Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments mid-March," an Apple spokesperson replied by email to queries from Reuters (Obviously the reply doesn't refer to wrapping the product up in shipping boxes...).

On the other hand, the delay is only a couple of weeks, so it's probably a so-not-the-drama reason. Unless there's another, unforeseen delay.

A lot of people have been desperately waiting for news regarding the release date of the Apple TV. Just to keep you on your toes (just kidding), here's a still-to-be-confirmed update on the little doodad's release.

Matt Buchanan of Gizmodo recently posted about his experience in the Soho Apple Store, where he "played the dumb consumer" in order to get some details on the Apple TV's actual ship date. According to Buchanan, store employees pointed towards a February 27 ship date, although an "if we get it then" comment from the very same employees keeps that date from being a lock.

Still, it looks like the Apple TV will definitely be making its way to retail stores sometime by the end of this month or the beginning of March. Keep checking back here at the QJ Apple blog for more updates.

There was one other feature of Mac OS X that didn't slip out with the screenies from a couple of days ago. Of course, this feature had to wait for the Apple TV to rear its head. Folks from Loop Rumors had a sneak peek - their words - at the secrets of OS X tight-lipped Cupertino hasn't disclosed to the media or the public yet, and the one on top was that OS X will wirelessly transmit the desktop to Apple TV - hence, your living room HDTV.

 

That is one huge high-def computer monitor.

Yeah, the first thought in our minds was that this was one workaround to having only 40GB of storage in the Apple TV - just keep 'em (the video media) in the Mac Mini and play it off there, but that defeats the purpose of Apple TV, which is to be the Mac Mini of your TV (Other than that, there's controlling the Mac Mini and OS X from the living room). Loop Rumors also suggests that OS X will also transmit to digital projectors too - they didn't clarify if it's direct Wi-Fi connection or through Apple TV, but it's probably the former. Who lugs an Apple TV box to work for a presentation?