There are Universal Remotes out there that cost more than an 8 Gig iPhone.
You can google and see... here's one example:
link
So, there is price precedent for devices in the iPod - iPhone range.
I would like to see the iPhone evolve to include truly
Universal remote control capability:
1) add programmable IR capability to the iPhone so it can control Apple TV as well as TV, Stereos, etc.
While the #1 issue here is lack of PHYSICAL buttons (there are high-end universal remotes with no physical buttons too, but they suck IMHO), and severely small proven market here, this is still an excellent idea. I need to be able to hit the pause and mute buttons without looking at the remote!
HOWEVER, for talking with my other equipment, I'd strongly prefer they use the
TV's USB port to hook up an IR pulse squid (ie, multiple IR transmitters, to be placed in front of your sttereo equipment so they can "see" the IR ports) instead of putting this on the iPhone/iPod. I mean, I don't want to have to be in the same room to control my stereo, and I also don't want to have to hold the iPod and aim at specific equipment for it to work. Plus, this setup would allow extension of different equipment types (RF of course, X10 perhaps) with the change-out of a dongle on the
TV, not a complete iPod/iPhone replacement.
Personally, I own a ~$200 (when bought a few years back; I think I saw it for $89 earlier this year) remote control, which is great. But, still, my wife hates it because the interface to it is very ... ummm ... techy. Also, many of the newer devices we've tried using it with (DirecTV DVR, for instance) include buttons it is incapable of "learning" (and I hadn't spent the extra $75 to get the one with a PC connection because I'm a stingy dumb-ass). You know how irritating it is to use a DVR's menu when the "left" button (and ONLY the "left" button!) doesn't work? It sucks, let me tell you! Were the iPhone/iPod really just a "dumb" front-end to the
TV, all the "learning" would happen there instead, and would be easily upgraded for new devices without having to dump an expensive remote in the landfill.
2) add power-line interfaces to apple's plugged-in devices (Computers, Apple TV, iPod Hi-Fi, iPod/iPhone Chargers/Adapters/Docks, etc.). These devices could be part of a power-line network where all devices are monitored and controlled, and intelligent devices can perform the Monitor & Control functions.
How is this superior to WiFi?
Is there any ongoing development effort on power-line networking?
3) Offer a new product a mass storage (media) server
The iPhone in your hand could display a custom keyboard for each specific task:
[...]
Which is the beauty part of it all. The iPhone just needs a nice AJAX-ish screen displaying what the
TV tells it to, so you'd be able to add new functions here really really easily, and even (should apple chose to do so) allow user customizations (officially or as a hack).
The Telekenesis iPhone Remote provides proof of concept of much of the above:
The primary roadblock there is that Telekenesis is not a "first class" iPhone app. It's got the deck stacked against it. However, I would hope Apple would use it as an idea source for their own implementation.
