I'm hanging out for an Apple TV app store. It'll be absolutely huge when it happens.
Glad to hear Steve will be presenting. It would have been kinda fun if they set the expectation that he wouldn't be there and made us sit through an hour of Phil Schiller, just for Steve to run out on the end to have a one more thing moment.
I don't see an Apple TV store happening soon. They don't want apps that compete with iTunes. Probably they would welcome games, but Amazon VOD? Never. Netflix is the one exception because it's too big to ignore.
There's been a quiet battle going on for 10+ years to work out who will own your living room entertainment experience.
One of the theories about why MS dumped so much money in to the XBox over the years was that it was really a trojan horse that was trying to be the hub of your media centre. The problem with the XBox is that it stays switched off when you're watching broadcast TV, which is still what most people do in their living rooms.
Whoever can get in between you and "broadcast" (or VOD) TV content and control that experience has just taken control of a multi billion dollar market.
Soon enough when you switch on your TV you'll be presented with a customised line up of viewing across different channels/sources, lists of what your friends and favorite celebs(/brands/whatever) are watching, suggestions of new shows you might like, enhanced experiences around live content (polls on news topics on CNN, click to buy the track that's playing on Glee, etc), and, most importantly, targeted commercials.
All I want is Android style widgets (ie, Google Voice SMS app or RSS feed reader) overlay or with TV inset (like your cable/dish box showing menu + current stream).
GoogleTV's first iteration sucks, but I think the Market alone will change that. There's a netflix app and the Al Jazeera Live app is pretty good. If you get a dozen big names (BBC news, CNN, etc) delivering their content directly to consumers via apps, then it will become a viable replacement for basic cable. Adding the full range of things Android can do, along with their rental service will only be icing on that cake.
Glad to hear Steve will be presenting. It would have been kinda fun if they set the expectation that he wouldn't be there and made us sit through an hour of Phil Schiller, just for Steve to run out on the end to have a one more thing moment.
(Ticker tape and lasers are optional.)