Apple makes biggest move yet into living rooms

By Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc. made its biggest move yet into the living room on Wednesday by starting shipments of the Apple TV box, a gizmo that lets people take music, photos and video stored on a computer and play them on a television screen.

The small silver box with a white Apple logo costs $299 and can store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination thereof. It is available this week at Apple's online store, retail stores, and also from resellers.

Apple TV has garnered some positive early reviews, including one by Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg, who said the wireless box was easy to install and simple to use.

A remote control lets user watch movies or TV shows bought from Apple's iTunes store, view photo slide shows, or listen to music.

One of the chief complaints is that the Apple TV does not -- at least for now -- record TV shows, which means it cannot replace digital video recorders like the TiVo.

Over the past year, TV networks and movie studios have increasingly made their shows available online. That spurred a flurry of gadgets and services that connect the PC to the TV -- including those from Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp. and TiVo Inc.

-- but none has emerged as a clear winner.

"It's Apple's first major foray into the living room," said Shannon Cross, an analyst at Cross Research. "I expect many more products to come that expand Apple's reach beyond this initial Apple TV."