by , 5:00 PM EST, March 2nd, 2006

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, told USA Today on Thursday: "We're not trying to replace the TiVo. [The Intel Mac mini] is about taking the media from your computer and accessing it via the TV." He said that adding recording capabilities to the new computer would have made it "too complicated," according to reporter Jefferson Graham.

Those statements should enable TiVo to "breathe easier," The Motley Fool's Tim Beyers wrote on Thursday. He said that the company "might have given TiVo a run for its money," but the lack of TV recording software on the new Mac mini "may provide the most compelling evidence yet for the DVR pioneer's continued health and survival."

Mr. Beyers also said that while "Apple's box could eventually become yet another [threat to TiVo], neither Apple, TiVo, nor anyone else has gotten the TV-Web integration thing right so far. Some day, one company will; until then, I'd expect TiVo to stick around ."