Ah, the power of a brand. When Apple announced Apple TV, most people assumed it was the next big thing in television. The slick ads, the beautiful pictures all make it seem incredibly sexy and mysterious — like the future of television is hardcoded into this beautiful, extra-terrestrial-looking block.

In reality, its just your everyday set-top-box, with one very simple purpose: stream/download/play all of your iTunes library video downloads on your HD-enabled television. Of course, you can still play your music through it, if you want to, but the slickster solves a simple problem that limited Apple’s ability to sell videos through iTunes — not many people want to watch hours and hors of TV on the relatively small iPod screen.

The future’s bright for Apple TV, however. Given enough penetration, Apple could release fotware that upgrades it to a fully functioning DVR that connects not just to your computer or iTunes, but also to your local cable box — putting the Apple brand and penchant for great interface design squarely in the TiVo space. Imagine: “I’ll just Apple it and watch it later!”