The original device came with a 40 GB hard disk, but after two months since its release, it was discontinued and replaced by a more spatious version, which was able to store up to 160 GB. Steve Jobs announced in 2010 that a second generation of Apple's Apple TV was going to come out the current year. Opposing the original device, this one did not present a hard drive. It did also present 8 GB of flash memory was added for caching only.
The device takes all its data from online or locally connected sources. Apple TV was first unveiled as a work in progress called "iTV", at a press conference held in San Francisco, California. Using an Apple Remote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs demoed a front row interface. Steve Jobs also stated that the Apple TV would be available for pre-ordering from January 9, 2007 at the Macworld Conferance&Expo. The Apple CEO declared on January 15, 2008 at the Macworld 2008, that Apple will be realizing a major and free software upgrade.
This major upgrade helped Apple TVs to become stand-alone devices which no longer required a Mac or Windows computer connected to the iTunes. The Apple TV was supposed to be an accessory for iTunes, but it turned out that it was not what people wanted, so Apple launched this software upgrade so the device would be capable of renting and purchasing content and downloading it directly on your computer. Apple TV lets one use a HDTV for viewing photos or playing music and videos.
The Apple TV could play video content that was streamed from internet or local connections. The available applications came in steps, as the first Apple TV generation only had Flickr, You Tube, MobileMe and iTunes. The second generation introduced Netflix to the device. Although it was Apple branded, the Apple TV had some tough enemies, like Google TV, Roku, or Western Digital Media Center.
Since 2008, podcasts were served as different movie types. While the first generation gave users the opportunity of storing their favorite music and video content onto their Apple TV, the second generation restricts downloading content directly to the device, due to the lack of storing capacity. The YouTube fever spread so much that it reached the point where Apple had it implemented in their device. The content is viewed directly from the internet, and no YouTube account is required.