PC Mag:
While Apple could still make a physical TV, I think this move incorporating Hulu and Amazon is very telling of Apple’s future TV strategy. The key here is that for Apple’s current TV device to make money, it needs content. By biting the bullet and offering competing services to iTunes, the value proposition of an Apple TV device rises. Apple can now accelerate its TV plans through areas it excels in, namely software and human interfaces. I believe that it can do all that it wants to do in these areas through an external box that connects to a TV and delivers iTunes and its cloud services.
The problem with TVs is that people buy them and hold on to them for five to seven years on average. While Apple could design a TV that could be upgraded in software, it makes more sense to create a sophisticated box that works with all televisions and allows the company to innovate around this model.
Bajarin has been around for a long time and is a smart guy. I’ve been saying the same thing about Apple’s direction with regards to the Apple TV set-top box but The Esteemed Publisher of The Loop still believes Apple will still produce an actual HD television set. Time will tell.
The Esteemed Publisher of The Loop also thinks Heineken is drinkable. No one is infallible.
That iPad Mini we’ve been hearing about is sounding more and more like the perfect “remote” for an AppleTV set top box – complete with a new controller app that also works with your DVR, etc.
Jim
I agree
The perfect remote should be able to be operated while watching the TV. I agree that Apple should offer a remote App for iPads and iPhones for browsing purposes, but for basic navigation, volume control, etc. I don’t want to bob my head up and down going from TV to remote.
I’ve been saying it since buying my Apple TV and actually using it. As far as the media my family and I consume, it has become the center of our every day lives. I imagine that before iCloud, it was a lot less useful, but with iCloud, HuluPlus, Netflix, and AirPlay all put together, you already have a powerful streaming box. Add ala carte TV content in there, and it will see mass adoption. I’m all for it. It’s become possibly my favorite Apple gadget of all time.
Alan Wolk was just talking about this recently at http://www.toadstoolblog.com/2012/08/apple-tv-is-going-to-be-software-not.html too. He makes a pretty good case for why they’ll be going the software-only route and I especially like his positing on the potential for second screen augmentation:
“thinks Heineken is drinkable…” is the reason why I never believe anything The Esteemed Publisher of The Loop says without triple confirming it with other, smarter people…
🙂
Front page bylines, please!
Why? What difference would a front page byline make?
When I read things on line, I like to read it in the “voice” of whoever is writing it. You all don’t “speak” with one “voice,” and I find it disconcerting when it is not Dalrymple I’m listening to.
ala carte TV content would be great. Also, since AppleTV runs on iOS, it should be opened to app development. Much like the Roku box, AppleTV could then have “channels” to download. It might get inundated with a lot of freebie crap channels, but there would be the possibility for some great content, too, as well as various viewers like Smithsonian, ABC and others becoming easy to use from the AppleTV itself (with controls from iPhone or iPad if wanted). Channels that sell additional content and subscriptions would work as well and might see an uptick in buyers, making money even if Apple takes a cut.
A lot less irritation for some us. I second the request; it’s the one thing about the generally great redesign of the site I have had an issue with.
When I know there’s more than one potential author of any post, I feel like I’m being unnecessarily made to click through just to see who’s speaking.
Is it just me or was this line, “I think this move incorporating Hulu and Amazon is very telling of Apple’s future TV strategy,” just thrown in there with no further mention of Amazon. I found it really strange since Hulu is on the Apple TV but Amazon is not, as of yet.
Did you RTFA? 😉
They mentioned a streaming video app from Amazon that Apple “allowed” on the iPad in the paragraph immediately preceding the above quote. That’s what they’re referring to. They did, however, later assume that this means “It is only a matter of time” before Amazon is on Apple TV as well (I’ll believe that when I see it — Hulu Plus sure took a long time to jump from iPhone/iPod/iPad to Apple TV)
for me the perfect remote is Logitech Harmony One set up — an ergonomic physical remote that controls the ATV, tv, receiver, dvd, mac, etc…
agreed. knowing the identify or voice of the writer is a key part of reading this sort of content. it’s not an AP wire story…
i also wish i could see the # of comments from the front page, so i dont have to click into a story to see if it’s a hot topic.
“allowing” an app into the iPad iOS app store is not the same as welcoming it open-arms onto the ATV. not really at all.
I have to agree with Bajarin on this. It is about content. About getting it up there in high quality, reasonable prices etc.
And that can be serviced by the STB and doesn’t need a real tv which is why Apple isn’t likely to ever do it. A better Cinema Display series that could be used as a tv sure, but not an actual tv
I’ll also toss a buck into the byline hat. I like all the posts here… but I absolutely HATE to miss anything Peter writes.