Here are the key obstacles to this vision:

- Content licenses. Right now, only Netflix has something approaching 'everything' a consumer would want to play. If even a small fraction of that is missing, the value of the system drops dramatically. The consumer will not want to go to a different platform or provider for the last 20% of their shows or movies, they just won't buy in at all.

- Even if the licenses line up, that will only be the US. Abroad, licenses are horribly fragmented and restrctive, locking out for example Europe.

- Even if the licenses are worldwide, the DRM demanded by the content companies will be so great and the price premium so high that they won't be attractive to consumers

- Nintendo doesn't want to control your living room. An argument can be made for the other companies, but Nintendo's content provision has always been poor, online system very limited, and t"giving up control of the TV" is actually their core strategy with the U Pad.

- Despite SmartGlass's claims, I imagine the experience difference between different tablets and machines will be a fragmented mess, with features arbitrarily unimplemented or locked out.

- Consumers will not stand for yearly or semi-yearly upgrades. A Smart TV better be upgradeable for 5-10 years with all the latest content, features and hardware support or they risk drawing a short straw and getting a very poor experience after launch. I'm sure TV companies' financial projections rely on much faster TV upgrades than that, so we will see more than just Sony go into the red.

- It isn't too late for Apple, but Apple have shown want it all their way or nothing. They cannot work with multiple third parties or support non-Apple devices being part of the chain, so they will struggle to do everything the consumer would want from a system and still have the cost be something reasonable.

I don't know but I see Apple struggle to grow past it's iDevices, and I just don't see it dominating any living room unless they start to make there stuff cheaper. No single company can dominate though, as there are too many technology based companies now

So does this mean that the traditional cable channels are pretty safe for the foreseeable future? That it's simply very hard for an outside player (Apple, MS, Samsung, Sony etc) to come in and revolutionize and dominate the living room. Am I understanding it right (is this a correct conclusion to draw from what you wrote)?

Yes. I think it will take a lot longer than the optimistic articles predict because no single company has the power to make it happen, and also the hardware companies involved won't make anything like the money they expect: consumers want to pay less than they currently do for iTunes/Netflix/cable/DVDs, and content companies will be reluctant to accept further devaluation.

Wait, am I getting this right that the author doesn't mention the failed product Apple TV? I see mention of "an Apple TV" but that's not the same.

Yeah, it's not mentioned. I don't think it failed though, they continue to refresh it and add features which means it is making money.

I suppose it's true it's not setting records like iPad/iPhone/iPod. Apple doesn't seem to have a good handle on this whole thing, yet.

This article acts as if the living room presence of the PS3 and Wii are close enough to 0 to be irrelevant.

Yes it does, but if I know you right I'm sure you agree with that.