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Analyst Continues to Believe Apple Will Launch Internet-Connected TV

This is exactly what I thought when they came out with the AppleTV instead of the "iTV".
I know there's the British ITV, but there was also the iPhone when that came out.
 
I could see an AppleTV like device, on steroids, that provides the functionality of a TV box, a video game console, ect. ... but I do not see them competing in the actual TV industry ... there are far too many big-name and successful companies.
 
I think that what would make sense is not an all-in-on TV (including the huge screen), but a better Apple TV set-top box thing. Apple already has that working, why not just make a new version of the Apple TV, and allow it to stream live TV from the net?

IPTV already exists today, it allows you to rewind live TV and all that stuff, however, it's too new technology and doesn't work on most phone lines because of the limited bandwidth. Maybe in a few years it will be good enough for Apple to adopt it, 2-4 years seems logical to me. Not in the near future.

But I do feel that television needs some revolution, at the moment it sucks big time. I wouldn't mind if Apple made an all-in-one device, since I hate that I have to turn on 4 different devices with 4 different remotes, one for the screen, one for the volume, one to change the channels. I hate that turning on the TV takes ages and that you can only record stuff on VHS or DVD, since I don't think many people are willing to buy those super-expensive hard drive recorder things. Oh and add a fifth remote to the pack with that! Why not just make a sort of case that would hold 5-10 remotes all in one pack, which would be so huge that it would be too heavy to move around, basically you could just screw it to the table and always have all your remotes together!

I hate television!

I mean I only like a few things on TV, but I hate the interface and the way you get around it. It totally sounds like something for Apple to revolutionise...
 
I could see the TV thing happening. I could see how apple would combine products into one device. They did this with iPhone and iMac. All-in-one. I could even picture the slide show and keynote. Jobs presenting images of a DVD player + TV + Satellite receiver & dish. Then crossing them all out and displaying all of this in one device.

Remember this?:
"An iPod. A phone. A web device. Are you getting it?"

The problem today is that there are too many different technologies. Too much clutter, remotes, settings, and issues with compatibility between brands and devices. I would like a TV with everything integrated so that things work in harmony and share one elegant, user-friendly operating system, including subscriptions for channels.

I mean, when I'm at friends houses and they put on a movie, they always have to use two remotes, usually one for changing the input of the TV, adjusting the aspect ratio, volume then another to play a disc, access he menu, then another for the satellite channels. Sometimes people use a big clunky universal remote with way too many buttons. Living room systems are just a big mess right now. Apple, please fix this.
 
Done before

Doesn't anyone remeber this?
 

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brguitarist said:
This is exactly what I thought when they came out with the AppleTV instead of the "iTV".
I know there's the British ITV, but there was also the iPhone when that came out.
Click to expand...

apple can call it the iglare because it will have a sheet of glass in front. So viewing it in a room with windows is impossible.
 
German said:
Yes.
One of my friends is using it with a settop box, although he could use cable (analog + digital).
Click to expand...

Yeah, at home in Hungary we ordered the T-Home thing but not only did it take 2 and a half months to get the service, but they determined that our broadband isn't suitable for IPTV so we just got normal TV instead, thus we could've avoided the 2 and a half month hassle if they would've told us that in the beginning, and we could've stayed with our previous provider... And for some reason, with the normal satellite TV, they don't give you the hard drive recorder that would allow you to pause live TV and all that... Is that only possible on IPTV, or are they just messing with us? I though the hard drive would record TV no matter how it gets here...

Anyway, it would be so cool if Apple could do something awesome here, though I'm sure it would take a few years from now...
 
jbrenn said:
apple can call it the iglare because it will have a sheet of glass in front. So viewing it in a room with windows is impossible.
Click to expand...

That makes sense, since Apple doesn't like Windows! :D I know, I'm so funny...
 
In 10 years tv's and computers will be indistinguishable from one another. As they should be. Most of our cable boxes today have processors in them. As do our gaming systems and stereos. One could argue that we are already there.
 
I just don't see this happening in this time frame for most of the reasons already put forth.

That being said, any typical Apple-like improvement to the absolutely idiotic system of cables, control hardware / software and user interface of today's AV products can't be bad.
 
Anyone who knows me here knows I'm unafraid of bold predictions about the future as it relates to Apple. But this...on many levels is tough for me to see.

In fairness, in my head there are several signs that point to "Yes": Apple's standalone LCDs are getting progressively larger and higher quality; the cost to add a software layer, widgets, etc. is plummeting (and everyone is doing it); Apple has tons of experience b/t the iPhone ecosystem and AppleTV to make a leap forward; Apple has great supplier relationships for displays and could easily go up the size curve; the market is enormous.

But in my heart...I don't know, tough to get my arms around it. Margins are super thin on TVs, even the better, more expensive ones. It's a brutally competitive market.

But what do I know?
 
I highly doubt this would happen.

But if it's true, I think it's safe to say that apple has completely lost it.
 
I like the idea, but I don't see why Apple needs to get into the TV business. Just make a super-duper Apple TV.

I mean, I can see why Apple would want to -- they would want to be able to charge a premium for the combined device -- but would consumers buy it?

Maybe. They seem to like all-in-one iMacs, OK. I just can't see people accepting the lock-in with a TV, though.
 
See, I don't think that this is a market that Apple will move into...largely, because the market is going to move to where Apple is now.

The concept of "live television", by and large, is antiquated, and will be obsolete within the next ten years. Honestly, what do you really need to watch live? News and sporting events. The market is moving more and more toward DVR-based viewing, and away from this "oh, I have to be at home at 9 to watch Lost tonight!" attitude.

I believe the future will be largely similar to the iTunes method...you purchase a season of a show, and you know that, on Tuesday nights at 9, Lost will be available for viewing. Think about it...it just makes more sense. This eliminates the need for the flawed system of "ratings", since the studios will be able to immediately see EXACTLY what shows people are watching.

I think that we will see a new iteration of the iPhone OS, which will be for display on TVs...this way, if you want to watch live television...well, there's an app for that.

As the quote that Jobs threw out during the iPhone debut goes, "I don't skate to where the puck is, I skate to where it will be."
 
It's already a bit ridiculous that you have Apple selling gorgeous 27" displays saddled to computer hardware in the case of the iMac when one could break before the other and most certainly the computer hardware will be obsolete before the display. Why would you want that marriage of computing hardware and an even larger display in the TV arena? People will replace their TV displays as different technologies gain a foothold, and Apple will want to update the capabilities of its Apple TV computing hardware. You don't want to have to buy a new Apple TV every time they tweak something and you don't want to have to lose your Apple TV technology when there's a great new TV display you want to buy.

I can't imagine it being anything other than an add-on device. And people accept and even seem to enjoy adding boxes to their TVs. It's been the paradigm for decades. And I know Apple loves breaking paradigms, but in this case breaking the paradigm would be boxing people in, which is OK with some things, but not with really expensive electronics that change so quickly.
 
They already have this

It's called Apple TV. The only difference is an Apple display.
 
1. This is not new. There have been rumors about an Apple TV for a long time.
2. 2000 Dollars is extremly expensive for a device thats just entertainment. Nobody I know would buy a 2000 Dollars TV. They usually buy the smallest TV they can find because its the cheapest. Most buy 32 inch devices for about 400 Euro.
 
drewc1138 said:
See, I don't think that this is a market that Apple will move into...largely, because the market is going to move to where Apple is now.

The concept of "live television", by and large, is antiquated, and will be obsolete within the next ten years. Honestly, what do you really need to watch live? News and sporting events. The market is moving more and more toward DVR-based viewing, and away from this "oh, I have to be at home at 9 to watch Lost tonight!" attitude.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. The only live TV we watch is football - everything else is recorded via series link on our Sky+ and watch it whenever suits us. With a wife and two kids in the house, we all have our own programmes we like so it ends up a pretty eclectic mix of programmes saved there.

Even if its a huge event like the first episode of the new season of Lost, we won't watch it live at 9pm - we'll watch other stuff until we can put Lost on at 9.20pm-ish so we will be able to fast forward through the adverts.

We're not geeks, millions of people in the UK have Sky+ already. Apple are missing the boat here.
 
The current Apple TV is pretty good, Im not sure why people do not see this as the future. I think the only thing holding this technology back is disk space to store movie collections.
 
Everything has been put on hold thanks to the bloody ipad! Anyone else waiting for the macbook pro updates??!
 
captain kaos said:
Everything has been put on hold thanks to the bloody ipad! Anyone else waiting for the macbook pro updates??!
Click to expand...

I'm sure it has a lot more to do with Intel forcing you to accept their crappy integrated graphics if you buy the chip than it has to do with iPad.
 
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