I can’t help but think that WD is going down the same path with their TV Live products that RIM has with their Blackberry phones . Don’t get me wrong - I own 2 TV Lives plus a Live Streaming - and love the play-most-everything and form-factor aspects of them. But they’re boring.
The UI is boring, they keep screwing with the apps, and do not make it easy for third-parties to create apps for them. Sound familar? Now look at Plex or XBMC. They’re sexy, somewhat stable, and easy to use - just like an iPhone. And yes, you can put both Plex & XBMC on an Apple device, albiet you have to jailbreak Apple TV for the latter.
Western Digital, you make great hardware but your software is lousy, just like RIM’s. Why don’t you heed the advice of many, many posts on these boards and open up your devices to third-party software developers? It seems to have been somewhat successful for Apple. Let the community provide high-quality software like Plex or XBMC and you reap the benefits with hardware sales! I have no doubt that frustrated WD Live users would even pay a nominal fee for this ability.
I’m afraid that if you continue to provide minimal applications, you will soon become the new Blackberry when it comes to Media-playing devices. You have the chance to be an iPhone!
