There’s plenty of maneuvering for the digital living room by many competitors. As a result, there has been some agitation for Apple to expand the scope of the Apple TV, improve its capabilities, or make bolder moves. However, during Tuesday’s earnings report, Mr. Jobs reiterated that he expects the Apple TV to remain a "hobby" for Apple in 2009.

Toni Sacconaghi with Bernstein Research took the opportunity to quiz Mr. Jobs directly about his view of the Apple TV.

Sacconaghi: "Steve, how are you thinking about Apple TV now. For fiscal year you’ve upgraded the iPhones, iPods, and and certainly the Macintoshes as well. If you look at the ... living room category and the upcoming year for 2009, how do you look at that opportunity and how it relates to Apple TV?"

Jobs: "Well, again, I think the whole category is still a hobby right now. I don’t think anybody has succeeded at it. And actually the experimentation has slowed down. A lot of the early companies that were trying things have faded away. So I would have to say that given the economic conditions, given the venture capital outlooks and stuff, I continue to believe it will be a hobby in 2009."

That statement will probably be a disappointment for some Apple customers who’d been hoping for additional functionality in the Apple TV, such as a tuner and/or DVR capabilities. However, Apple has a history of ignoring the more technical customers in favor of focusing on simplicity and elegance.

The combination of iTunes and the Apple TV is doing quite well for Apple these days. Recently, Apple’s Eddy Cue announced that Apple had sold 200 million TV episodes as of last week, and Apple’s previous announcements have cited 50,000 movie rentals or purchases per day. It could very well be that Apple’s hobby is just a disguise while Apple continues to solidify its position and let more adventurous companies fail with high profile, yet risky projects.

Apple consistently declines to report on the number of Apple TVs sold to date or each quarter, and they fall under Apple’s "subscription" or deferred accounting practices.