The Sad History and (Possibly) Bright Future of TiVo 490
gjt writes "For the couch-potato geek, one name typically comes to mind: TiVo — the company that invented the DVR, and with it, timeshifting. TiVo has been around for more than 10 years now. And TiVo fans (like myself) tend to love TiVo. Yet, despite being well-loved and despite having been around longer than the Apple iPod, TiVo comes nowhere close to the iPod/iPhone's success. Apple sells more iPod and iPhone products in a single quarter than TiVo has sold in the entire lifetime of the company. At its peak, TiVo had only 4.4 million active users — that was over three years ago. Now TiVo the number is about 2.7 million. So I wanted to find out why TiVo hasn't been more successful — especially with a seeming lack of competition on store shelves. I did some research and posted my finding about TiVo's past, present, and future. The key takeaway seems to be that TiVo is a victim of cable industry collusion, loopholes in FCC regulations, and, of course, plenty of their own mistakes."
Re:TiVo invented timeshifting? (Score:5, Funny)
I'll have you know my mother invented timeshifting way before the VCR was even thought of. Every TIME a commercial came on the TV she would SHIFT herself into the kitchen and make a cuppa.
Never Mind That; "Tivo Geek" ?? (Score:5, Funny)
How's that stack up against being a "Toaster Oven Geek"? Or "iPhone Geek"? Or "Honda Civic Geek"? Hell, I'm hungry, I think I'm going to go be a Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly-on-White-Bread-Geek.
Re:TiVo invented timeshifting? (Score:3, Funny)
My mom is The Doctor's mother. So she gave birth to time, sorta.
And she's a time traveler.
And she's bigger than your Dad and can beat him up.
So There.
Re:TiVo invented timeshifting? (Score:3, Funny)
My mom is The Doctor's mother.
Well my mom is the doctor's mother's mother and father. Its a long story involving time change and gender reassignment.
Re:TiVo invented timeshifting? (Score:2, Funny)