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Cupertino Hotel Adds Apple TVs to Guest Rooms

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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30,691



The trendy Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, which is located a mere two blocks from Apple's headquarters, has installed an Apple TV in each of its 123 rooms. Using the Apple TVs, hotel patrons can access television shows and movies via iTunes, and use Netflix and Hulu in addition to the Apple TV's other apps.

AirPlay is available for playing videos and music, and according to Square International, (via CNET) the company that installed Aloft's Apple TV system, the hotel can use the set-top boxes to provide guests with important information and access to the front desk.
The system can be customised to include your branding and images associated with the hotel. Additionally, you can integrate information about hotel services, including room service menus, the spa brochure, restaurant menus, shopping catalogues, local maps and city guides.

Our powerful, yet easy to use PC, Phone or Tablet management system allows Front Desk, Housekeeping or Engineering to use any web-enabled PC to enable / disable the system to act as an additional revenue stream, clear down all guest information with one click and even quickly and clearly see if a unit is offline.
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appletv.jpg
The Apple TVs can be customized with iTunes accounts from any country and are wiped after each use to allow guests to access their private iTunes accounts.

Though the Apple TV is often referred to as Apple's "hobby" project because of its lack of popularity, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that more than two million of the devices had been sold during Q1 2013, an increase of 60 percent year over year.

Cook also reiterated that the Apple TV was an area of intense interest for Apple, saying "I tend to believe that there is a lot we can contribute in this space and we continue to pull the string and see where it leads us."

The Apple TV recently received a stealth update that added a smaller A5 chip to the device, but Apple is rumored to be working on a more substantial upgrade that could range anywhere from improved content and the inclusion of third party apps to a full blown Apple-branded television set.

Article Link: Cupertino Hotel Adds Apple TVs to Guest Rooms
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/18/cupertino-hotel-adds-apple-tvs-to-guest-rooms/
B

bijanorama

macrumors member
Dec 23, 2009
33
0
My family is definitely ready for apple to shake up the cable tv market. We pay way too much for the 5 or so channels we watch. And no one likes using comcast hardware or services.
 
T

tranceme

macrumors 6502
Jan 10, 2006
250
201
California, US
Peace said:
Man I hope their WiFi doesn't suck as bad as some places I've been.
Click to expand...

Probably using ethernet cables. But, still, total bandwidth would have to be good for everyone to be happy. I mean, tons of people have Netflix accounts. I rarely can do Netflix via a hotel network.
 
aristotle

aristotle

macrumors 68000
Mar 13, 2007
1,768
5
Canada
JasonElise1983 said:
Sure... makes sense. But how do you go about customizing an tv? No 3rd part apps, no way into it... nothing. Curious to know if they worked with apple on development for it as maybe a test run.

-je
Click to expand...
Jailbreak. Once that has been done, you can install other components. They probably offer other components to the hotels to customize them.
 
Z

Zaqfalcon

macrumors 6502
Mar 22, 2010
361
138
I've wondered before why hotels don't get Apple TVs.

The Apple TV is still the Apple product that I've gained most use out of and pleasure from owning. It is great, I sell its virtues to anyone who'll listen. I just wish Apple would open it up for developers to create apps.
 
C

CodexMonkey

macrumors member
Feb 22, 2012
73
18
I stayed in a hotel in Colchester the other week which had an iMac in every room. It had custom software for viewing your bill etc. as well as the facility to use the iMac itself (anything you put on the hard disk is deleted when the machine restarts!), watch DVDs, check messages received via the hotel etc. and utilized the Apple Remote for navigation of the custom interface.

I spent some evenings just watching movies I'd taken along on my pocket drive so it was a better screen from a distance than using my rMBP.

More hotels should do this, as it's the main reason I chose to stay there (Yes, I really am that sad!)
 
A

Attonine

macrumors 6502a
Feb 15, 2006
744
58
Kent. UK
CodexMonkey said:
I stayed in a hotel in Colchester the other week which had an iMac in every room. It had custom software for viewing your bill etc. as well as the facility to use the iMac itself (anything you put on the hard disk is deleted when the machine restarts!), watch DVDs, check messages received via the hotel etc. and utilized the Apple Remote for navigation of the custom interface.

I spent some evenings just watching movies I'd taken along on my pocket drive so it was a better screen from a distance than using my rMBP.

More hotels should do this, as it's the main reason I chose to stay there (Yes, I really am that sad!)
Click to expand...


I stayed in a hotel like this in Bristol. I think it's a chain in several cities throughout England. The bespoke software is pretty neat.
 
J

JM-Prod

Suspended
Apr 10, 2011
145
51
gnurf said:
You should try it. The interface makes sense for a device with a five-button remote. Best Netflix browser I've found on any device, too.
Click to expand...

Could be, but compared to the elegance of the PS3 interface, the look of this Apple UI is truly horrible... where did the taste go?
 
aristotle

aristotle

macrumors 68000
Mar 13, 2007
1,768
5
Canada
JM-Prod said:
Could be, but compared to the elegance of the PS3 interface, the look of this Apple UI is truly horrible... where did the taste go?
Click to expand...
Are you talking about the Netflix UI on the PS3? I happen to have Netflix on both my Apple TV 3rd gen and my PS3. I hate the UI for netflix on the PS3.
 
E

etarip

macrumors newbie
Dec 20, 2012
2
0
http://www.square-i.net/Square_[_i_]_In-room_entertainment_on_Apple_TV_41.php

System is a jailbroken ATV 720p version 2

I am not sure how Apple lets this happen at this hotel on their doorstep. They have done a good job with the network management to keep users from seeing or accessing neighboring rooms ATV.
 
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