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Apple’s new (2010) Apple TV unit have shipped and some have been delivered. Reviews are starting to pop-up in various places. So far reviews seem positive.

iFixit has done a tear down of the new device revealing 256MB of ram, 8GB of storage and an A4 processor. These specs show that the Apple TV is basically the 8GB iPod touch sans screen. They also find that the board has a spot that is basically ready to accept the 30 pin dock connector. I’m sure it won’t be long before some daring soul manages to get one soldered to it.

One of the bigger complaints, that is if you want to listen to most commenters on Engadget, is the lack of 1080p playback. That the Apple TV is only 720p is a complete non-argument because there simply isn’t a source of real 1080p content other than blu-ray. Stolen stuff doesn’t count. If you record over the air HDTV you’re either going to get 1080i or 720p content and there is basically no reason not to deinterlace the 1080i content into 720p since the vast majority of HDTV sets around today are going to be flat panel based. Netflix and Amazon HD streams are both 720p. In fact, the only 1080p streaming source I’m aware of is Zune marketplace on the Xbox 360 and I’m not aware of any other set top box that is allowed to stream Zune marketplace material and only costs $99.

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Apple announced yesterday that they will be streaming their September 1 event live. The catch? It’ll only work in Safari on Mac and on iOS devices. So in other words, only about 9/10’s of the internet will be able to view the live stream.

But that 9/10’s of the internet will be able to enjoy the exact same video stream no matter what device they are on, be it laptop or the tiny iPod touch. No need for a desktop optimized version and no need for a mobile optimized version. The same stream will play on any sized device.

Make no mistake, this is a giant stab at anyone who is arguing that flash is needed on Apple’s devices. If you need any further information about the state flash on Android you need only watch the video here and then read the comments. People love to rail on Apple while completely missing the point that having flash at all doesn’t mean flash works and a half-assed flash experience is not what Apple is willing to allow on their devices. Reading through the comments you’ll find a few people who argue that “at least it is there” and that “it doesn’t matter that flash sucks today because there are better phones coming out tomorrow.” That makes no sense.

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AppleInsider is running a story about a possible iPhone 4 launch on the Verizon network in 2011. This seems to jive with a bit of information from I got from a Verizon worker on the roll out of LTE beginning sometime in the end of 2011 or beginning of 2012. In fact, towers in the Fargo ND area are being upgraded to LTE capable equipment right now. I have my doubts we’ll see a CDMA only version of the iPhone on Verizon’s network and I am betting on a simultaneous iPhone and LTE launch. iPhone being the first LTE capable phone on Verizon’s network would be big marketing win for both the iPhone and Verizon.

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Since Steve Jobs came back to Apple there has been one thing Apple has done that nobody can really argue. Innovation in the PC industry. While everyone, including Apple at the time, was producing boring looking beige computers Apple decided to completely rethink how a computer can look and introduced iMac. Love it or hate it, the iMac was completely different than anything else at the time and soon other manufacturers tried to add some amount of flair to their PC lineup.

Skip a head a few years later and Apple did it again. While everyone else was basically creating incrementally different smart phones in 2007, Apple simply destroyed how everyone assumed a smart phone should look and work by bringing to market iPhone. They made it far easier, intuitive and beautiful and from that moment on, they made it so that any phone on the market that didn’t have a touch screen or had a touch screen that required the use of a stylus was simply awkward and outdated.

Apple’s most recent market disruption was none other than iPad. During the summer prior to iPad’s release the netbook craze was in full swing. Just a year later there are reports that sales on netbooks have slowed considerably and some reports even show netbooks are losing out because of iPad.

At iPads reveal in January of 2010 Steve Jobs quipped that netbooks weren’t better at anything, they were simply cheaper laptops. Many people argued that netbooks were most useful for consumption and were never really meant for creating content. Yet netbooks looked and worked just like any other ordinary PC. Apple changed this by creating something that looked and worked nothing like a PC. Note too that iPad was the first tablet device on the market. Microsoft has been trying to get consumers using tablet PCs for years but I don’t think anyone could argue they’ve been anything near the run away success that Apple has seen basically over night.

The inspiration for my post comes from Marco Arment’s recent post. He also poses the interesting question of, “How do you think the subcompact, inexpensive computer category will look in three years?”