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Apple Gives Media Executives Vague Hints about Its Television Plans

TMay said:
So disappointed that they can't stop buying them...
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Of course they buy them. Even with only minor changes the phone is selling in record numbers. It doesn't mean that they hadn't hoped for something more exciting and ground breaking. It shows me that people will buy anything that Apple sells.
 
I'm good with my 360..... They updated the interface with new stuff and I got online streams with my Mac mini... Not everything needs to be gestures and voice controlled
 
"We have invented this new technology called iNect, and its awesome. It works like magic... and boy, have we patented it!"

Apple, 2012.
 
bwillwall said:
All the hate and we don't even know what it is. Apple makes the best phones, mp3 players, computers, tablets, routers, keyboards and mice, etc etc and most of these things either came into existence or were completely redesigned within the last 10 years. Can't we just trust that Steve knew what we would want when he came up with this idea? However my worries ARE: 1. The 1.0 release might not be great (if history repeats) 2. It doesn't end up as good as Steve would have made it himself. :apple:
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Jobs has never made anything himself. He chose the right people to design and help him come up with ideas. Those people are still employed at Apple Inc.
 
Color me a Skeptic but

Maybe Apple has a chance with such successful and amazing home entertainment products such as
Powercd
Apple Bandai Pippen
Macintosh TV
and Apple TV1 and Apple TV2
/sarcasm
Frankly the market for TV products is too stabilized the mobile device markets where products were starting to become popular right before Apple released their products and those markets a had lot of growth in them before Apple entered. the truth is there isn't any innovation in the TV market now like their was in the Phone, Tablet, and PMP market. Also TVs aren't cheap or heavily subsidized devices like mobile devices are. But maybe somehow they just might pull it off.
 
"new ways Apple's technology could be used across phones, tablets and TVs."

Well whatever Apple have up their sleeves, it had better be good because Sky TV probably got there first. I can already watch Sky content on my iPhone, iPad and laptop. That includes pretty much anything that is part of our Satellite TV subscription.
 
The technology is secondary to programming.

Maybe Apple will decide to become a network?
 
I dont think we'll see any groundbreaking hardware or technological feats from Apple in this regard... according with the logic they've been using since the iPod, the concept will most likely revolve around content distribution and management. They'll probably throw in a couple of fancy tricks - like a touchscreen remote control with Siri or something like that - but nothing too amazing.

My guess is that, when Jobs talked about reinventing the TV, he was probably thinking it would be highly profitable to do with TV content the same thing he did with music, and then with OS X and iOS apps... put it all on iTunes and charge 30% of everything you watch. If you look at Apple's financials, you'll see it's slowly becoming more of a media retail company, using technology to support media distribution on a closed environment.
 
elgrecomac said:
I think you are in a very small minority on this one. Voice is where I ts going and I can't wait!
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No, he's really not. It's only Apple fans who really want this. Why the heck would you want to talk to your TV? For one thing, it would have to work out speech patterns of multiple people in a family, and even then theres still only around an 80% chance it'll get the commands right, especially if you're sitting away from the TV.

What the heck is wrong with a damn remote control? If they want to revolutionise it, stop putting crummy wireless in (in built up areas, wireless quite simply does not work - I speak from experience here, there are around 50 wireless networks in my area).

The Apple TV needs to focus on content, not silly gimmicks like voice control (SIRI IS A HUGE GIMMICK!!!).

Either way it'll be useless in the UK as Apple is very poor at getting content deals outside the US. Microsoft have got it right with Netflix on the XBox, with iPlayer and others coming in the new year.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Of course they buy them. Even with only minor changes the phone is selling in record numbers. It doesn't mean that they hadn't hoped for something more exciting and ground breaking. It shows me that people will buy anything that Apple sells.
Click to expand...

The reason the phone is breaking records is because with the iPhone 4S release the phone became available with more carriers and not just sprint either. So it does make it quite a bit harder to judge if the 4S has sold in doves because of updates or because of new customers on other carriers.

I'm one of those people that can take a look at things realistically and form my own opinion instead of having the general public/media tell me how I should feel about Apple products.

They make some awesome products (especially in the hardware department), that doesn't blind me into believing everything they make is great and I certainly haven't forgotten their unethical behaviors the last 4 or so years.

I think the biggest influence of people buying Apple is Apple's ability to promote a product and the media just eats it up. Little other products make headline news with every product update they produce.

I think breaking into the TV market, if it can been done, is going to take a long time before Apple becomes a competitor. TVs aren't something people upgrade every year and many are satisfied with their current sets.

If Apple were to release a TV with iTunes integration tomorrow and iOS features (such as apps), I wouldn't buy it.

1- I can already output video to my TV via my iPod
2- iTunes content is DRM'd to hell and it costs just as much (if not cheaper) to buy the DRM crippled crap on iTunes as it does to buy a DVD or even bluray.
 
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OrangeSVTguy said:
I'm very interested to see what he has up his sleeves. I'm sure all the competitors out there have no clue what's about to happen in the near future.
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Kinect meets Siri, with TIGHT iTunes Store integration. But I am sure that you will believe that Apple came up with motion detection before Sony and Microsoft, just like everybody now believes that Apple invented voice recognition and voice assistants in cell phones.
 
Am I the only person that 1. Does not want voice controller 2. thinks it stupid idea anyway, what you going to do shout over the sound coming out of the TV, clearly it's going to interfere with the voice recognition? I really don't want to have to press a mute button first.

Also this TV is going to be heavily locked into Apples services and probably very few 3rd party ones. Expect iTunes Movie Rentals, iTunes Music etc.

I'm more interested in something that is intuitive to use and happy to use a hardware controller.

But if Apple TV is anything to go buy then I'm not holding my breath as that system is not a break through device.
 
diazj3 said:
I dont think we'll see any groundbreaking hardware or technological feats from Apple in this regard... according with the logic they've been using since the iPod, the concept will most likely revolve around content distribution and management. They'll probably throw in a couple of fancy tricks - like a touchscreen remote control with Siri or something like that - but nothing too amazing.

My guess is that, when Jobs talked about reinventing the TV, he was probably thinking it would be highly profitable to do with TV content the same thing he did with music, and then with OS X and iOS apps... put it all on iTunes and charge 30% of everything you watch. If you look at Apple's financials, you'll see it's slowly becoming more of a media retail company, using technology to support media distribution on a closed environment.
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Which I'm pretty sick of quite frankly. Its not just apple doing it, Microsoft has their own, Amazon has their own, and Apple has their own. Each with their own selection (Apple's obviously 1st in most regards) and closed system.

I don't like these closed eco-systems all over the place. It sucks for the consumer. Companies are using doing this as a way to "trap" users into one ecosystem by hoping a person will purchase a bunch of content that is stuck to their ecosystem and not want to switch because they'll "lose" all that content.
 
I think they will come out with an Apple iBrain for AppleTv.
Plug it into Your head and control AppleTv by mind.

But hey, then men could have a problem, the wife looks Tv and every 5 minutes or so it switches to Porn:D
 
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Hopefully with Full Picture-in-Picture (Full PiP), which requires at least two Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT) tuners inside the TV set. After image quality, that is the most important feature of a TV set for many people. Which manufacturers/models deliver that now?
 
diazj3 said:
I dont think we'll see any groundbreaking hardware or technological feats from Apple in this regard... according with the logic they've been using since the iPod, the concept will most likely revolve around content distribution and management. They'll probably throw in a couple of fancy tricks - like a touchscreen remote control with Siri or something like that - but nothing too amazing.

My guess is that, when Jobs talked about reinventing the TV, he was probably thinking it would be highly profitable to do with TV content the same thing he did with music, and then with OS X and iOS apps... put it all on iTunes and charge 30% of everything you watch. If you look at Apple's financials, you'll see it's slowly becoming more of a media retail company, using technology to support media distribution on a closed environment.
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Exactly. I love Apple but recently the choices they are making seem purely about how much profit they ca make out of content and less about making intuitive ground breaking devices. The Apple TV is proof of that.
 
bushido said:
maybe its just me but talking bothers me more than using the remote. tv is the only time of the day when u can just sit there and dont have to say a word.

i have kinect on my xbox and i usually just use my controller because i'm to lazy to speak lol
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Couldn't agree more .. I certainly hope that a Siri like interface is not the what Apple has got up its sleeve .. that is going to bomb, the remote is not what is wrong with TV nowadays.

I am really curios what Apple is planing .. then again, it will probably be a long time before we see the stuff over here in Europe anyways (remember the 99c TV show rent for example never made it here).

T.
 
MacRumors said:
While rumors of such a project have been ongoing for years, there has been a renewed interest in it since Steve Jobs having "finally cracked" the TV interface in his recently released biography.
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I think this is possibly not what everyone thinks it is. There are really two main ways this could be taken.

1. An upgraded TV. This would fit in with the "cracked the interface" idea. Interface says nothing to do with hardware. It's more about the UI. And UI is all software. This makes sense because Apple are already in the set top box market with TV.

But the feeling against this is Apple like to own the entire eco system. Using an Apple product with a Non Apple product is not in Apple's ethos. Apple ideally want every product you use to have the Apple  on it.

2. This is actually a Television set. With essentially the TV integrated into it. "Cracked the interface" does not specifically talk about hardware. But it could be UI for a new television set.

But the feeling against this is television sets usually have razor thin margins. And people are loathe to replace them every year or 2 or 3. Most people keep their television sets for 5-10 years or more before they replace them. This goes against Apple's high margin and 1-2 year product cycles they have in place now.

So this shows both option 1 and option 2 have reasons why they could and could not be the idea Apple is running with. Personally I'm more inclined to believe it's option 1 they are running with. But we'll find out one day I guess which way Apple chose to go.
 
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Koodauw said:
as long as it can automatically bring the volume level of advertisements down to be the same as the shows, it will be awesome.
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FCC finally made that happen. I believe it takes effect in December of 2012
 
In terms of content, TV is going to be 1000 times more difficult than music to revolutionise and without Steve Jobs doing the persuading and pitching to the TV Execs and Studios then it aint going to happen.

Eddy 'Eight-Ball' Cue doesn't have the same aura that surrounded Jobs and will get laughed out of the room.

Beginning of the end for Apple.
 
Clown Boy said:
In terms of content, TV is going to be 1000 times more difficult than music to revolutionise and without Steve Jobs doing the persuading and pitching to the TV Execs and Studios then it aint going to happen.

Eddy 'Eight-Ball' Cue doesn't have the same aura that surrounded Jobs and will get laughed out of the room.

Beginning of the end for Apple.
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You have Cook. He knows what to say to suppliers of parts and content to Apple. That's part of his job (As COO and now as CEO). And he is a master at it.
 
Well the 2011 Sony models are great TV sets. However the integration of web based services is still lacking a flawless UI, even it is better that what it used to be.
Those saying that there is no innovation by Sony and Samsung on their TV sets, maybe need to at least go to a store and play with one of them.
What is a reality is that they also try to implement some nice things but they lack the pull or leverage that Apple has. For example the 2011 Sony TVs are capable to run Skype, and in order to make it work you have to have an specific Web Cam model, even it is USB, it has to be the USD $150 specifically released by Sony and Skype for the TVs. Is it Microsoft or Sony driving this? Both are fully missing the point. And to setup all the other web services you have to got through a Sony website and set up an account and then start playing atop kind all the different user and passwords for each one of them. In this area is where Apple excels: doing the same thing of allowing us to run certain Apps under their regime but seamlessly, so they work without complicated conditions or configuration, and once you got them they work.
The Sony remote app for iOS really sucks.
And the remote controls for the TVs are a mess of too many buttons and cumbersome menus to navigate and to adjust the TV settings.


Surely A
 
attila said:
Siri, Next channel, next channel, next channel, volume up, volume up, next channel, volume down, volume down, volume down, next channel.....

JUST USE THE APPLE REMOTE, DAMNIT!
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I believe that's Google Voice you're using. If it was Siri, just say "it's too loud!" or "tune in to Mythbusters"
 
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