Maybe Apple could do it, but I think the fundamental economics need to change a bit first. Right now, now matter how you slice it, the manufacturing cost of a TiVo is too high. If you can profitably sell a TiVo for under $100, with lifetime service included (*), then you've got stampeding customers at the local Wal-Mart.

To get a TiVo box selling in Wal-Mart for $100, the component cost is going to have to drop in a significant way. Amusing thought: it might be cheaper to build an ATSC box than a traditional NTSC box, because you don't need an MPEG encoder. You only need the decoder. Think of this as the "TiVo HD Adapter", with optional hard drive, to help consumers when they turn off the analog NTSC broadcasts.

(*) Or maybe with "TiVo basic" included, then you can pay marginally more for other features.