Dear TiVo,
Mac OS 10.4 — also known as “Tiger” — was released in April, 2005. That’s 7 months ago. It was announced nearly a year before that.
And yet, your TiVo Desktop software still does not support this latest version of the Mac operating system.
When I purchased my TiVo, I paid an additional $99 fee to use the Home Media options, which are enabled by this software. (By the way, I was not pleased that you subsequently stopped charging for this feature and pointedly ignored those who plunked down a not insignificant chunk of cash for it.)
So here I am, with a TiVo that will not perform the functions that I paid a premium price for. I’m not asking for parity with PC users, who get TiVo to Go features — I’m just asking for what I paid for. Or my $99 back.
Regards,
Gene Cowan
p.s.: is it a typical tech strategy to launch a product by courting Mac users — a demographic that promises a willingness to try new things and spend a bit extra for a premium product — and then dump that core constituency for the lowest-common-denominator of Windows users?
It comes down to two options.
1. They can’t make it work.
They tried, they really tried, but they just can’t get the bugs out.
2. Not enough money in it.
X (the cost of setting it up for Mac) Divided by Y (projected sales units) times Z (sales price) = Profit margin.
Translation
Not enough profit to make it worth our time.
Could be a mix of the two but my money’s on #2.
Interestingly, I found a note in an internet discussion board by a Mac guy who discovered that there are a few minor problems that are keeping the software from working. He fixed them in a couple of minutes.
So, what’s TiVo’s real excuse, I wonder?
Gene, you probably get the TiVo email newsletter but I’ll post this snippet from the one I just got. Note the dangling of hope note at the bottom. I’ll consider retiring my old big-box Sony TiVo when they get it working for the Mac and I get a video iPod. The bummer is that I’ll have to get a new subscription (I bought a lifetime one, and that turned out to be a great investment!)
“TiVo announces intention to support iPod!
Did you hear? TiVo announced the intention to support the new Apple® iPod and Sony PSP as early as the first quarter of 2006! You’ll be able to use the TiVoToGo™ feature to transfer TiVo® recordings on your networked TiVo® box to your PC and sync to your video iPod automatically.
We’ll kick off a beta program for this new feature enhancement in the coming weeks. Visit tivo.com/togo for updates or keep reading this newsletter and I’ll keep you posted. And if you’re at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, stop by for a demo.
(Confidential to my Mac buddies: I know, I know. But this announcement, while still PC-specific, bodes very well. Hang in there—we are targeting mid-2006 for Mac support for TivoToGo™!)”
Too little, WAY too late.
It’s very telling that they are rushing to support the iPod video, but only for WINDOWS users — what irony. And “targeting” mid-2006 is simply NOT good enough. That will be more than a year since they first released ToGo for Windows, and more than a year since Mac OS Tiger was released. And far more than a year since they last updated the Mac TiVo Desktop software.
We’ve heard little “hopeful notes” from TiVo on and off during 2005, saying over and over that they are working on Mac support. How freakin’ difficult can it be? I mean, the Mac OS has so much support built into the system that individuals are programming all kinds of software on their own without waiting for corporations to do it. What’s TiVo’s excuse?