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.