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Apple Considering Low Cost Apple TV Dongle to Provide Wider Access to Upcoming Streaming Service
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They do! It’s apple, they are used to success. Haha
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Its really a superior product in comparison what apple did lately.
Oh god Apple needs to cede this part of the race. It’s about low barrier of entry. Having previously owned 3 Apple TV they were over priced and to be honest roku have been my recommended service to friends because offers multiple services and doesn’t close out access to their device unless the company won’t let them aka Apple.
Apple is considering creating a lower-cost Apple TV dongle that's similar to the Amazon Fire Stick or the Google Chromecast, reports The Information.
Apple has held discussions about introducing such a product, which would be priced lower than the Apple TV and would be able to be plugged into the back of a television set.
The company is said to be contemplating such a hardware device to promote an upcoming streaming service that's in the works. A lower-cost Apple TV dongle would make the service, which will be available only on Apple devices, more accessible to potential buyers.
Right now, Apple's only television product is the Apple TV, priced at $179 for the Apple TV 4K and $149 for the non-4K version. Current TV dongles from Amazon and Google are priced much lower, at $25 to $35.
Rumors have suggested Apple is planning to roll out a streaming service next year, perhaps as early as March, and it is set to launch in more than 100 countries in 2019.
Apple may offer the streaming service on a standalone basis, or bundle it up with Apple Music and an Apple News subscription that includes Texture, the magazine service that it purchased.
Original television content created by Apple could be made available for free to iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV users through the TV app. Apple is also negotiating deals to provide access to subscription channels like HBO and STARZ.
For its streaming service, Apple has more than a dozen original television shows in the works, and it has inked deals with production companies for movies. A full list of all of the projects Apple has in the works right now can be found in our Apple TV roundup.
Article Link: Apple Considering Low Cost Apple TV Dongle to Provide Wider Access to Upcoming Streaming Service
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Apple giving up profit? Never gonna happen. And dont call me Shirley.
NOW that is a great use case. Turning All HDMI into AirPlay Terminal. The problem is, this dongle requires power supply, which is very un-Apple.
The HDMI port can output maximum of 5V x 55ma, that is tiny. It wasn't ever designed as charging or power output in the first place. The Apple Watch S4, without the OLED Screen, Speaker, Sensor, Gyroscope, possibly even less DRAM, and capped CPU clock speed *may be* just enough to function. I am assuming the stick will be mostly for receiving data, and not sending.
But we are talking about 0.275Wh ( That is even excluding power factor... ), if Apple could get an Airplay HDMI Stick to power without external power, I would buy it for $99 or even $149. It will be a technological marvels!
Yes, and if the content is good, a lot of people will. However, they need a subscription plan too. I would hate to see a war where Amazon pulls Prime Video from Apple products and Google YouTube.
Apple needs to diversify and with all the new cheap, great sticks like Fire TV 4K and Smartt s, Apple is falling behind. They need to push all this new content and give more reason to join the Apple ecosystem and push it's services division. What you suggest would be quite dumb.
So he can sleep through even more meetings?
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Seems like you were having a nightmare. It just kept getting scarier and scarier...
When I purchased my first iOS, a 2nd Gen iPod Touch, Apple charged US$9.99 to upgrade to the next version of iOS. iPhone owners got it for free.
Apple later moved to not charging for any of its software and that upended Microsoft’s consumer business model.
We will have to wait and see if content providers will be able to upend Apple’s business model by giving away hardware at near free prices.
Just my US$0.02, I don’t think people are going to have the same emotional attachment to dongles or smart speakers as I don’t think they are as a personal device as a smartphone.
Apple later moved to not charging for any of its software and that upended Microsoft’s consumer business model.
We will have to wait and see if content providers will be able to upend Apple’s business model by giving away hardware at near free prices.
Just my US$0.02, I don’t think people are going to have the same emotional attachment to dongles or smart speakers as I don’t think they are as a personal device as a smartphone.
They had the best displays in the past. Those Apple Cinema Displays were really amazing and so beautiful. I had the 30" and I regret that they no longer have alternative (I know its in the works for next year so lets see).
If Apple did TV I'm sure it would be beautiful and the hardware would be awesome. YES, it would be expensive because its Apple but the quality would be there.
As for cheaper tvs - well, the very good ones don't get that much cheaper. They are just discontinued and replaced by newer model at similar price. (except Black Friday)
I get your point but who buys TV every year or so?
I had a great TV from 2012 and its still amazing tv now (it was one of the flagship tv in 2012). Now I'm in another country and trying to buy new TV and realising, that my 6 year old tv is still better than most tvs now. Anyway, decided that I'll buy Sony X900F 65" tomorrow.
My point is, good TVs will last you years so Apple could actually update it once every 3-4 years and it would be fine.
I paid £55 for a refurbished 2nd generation Apple TV. Does what I want it to do.
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He'll tell you: You just wait until the flood is over, and all the dinosaurs are gone.
Apple TV. Great device, stupid price.
I get there being a slight apple premium price, but the current prices are completely out of line with everything else in the settop box market.
Roku's can be purchased from $40 with their highest end 4k full featured box being $120.
Chromecasts are $50-90
Amazon Fire devices are $40-120
Apple's TV device? STARTS at $149, and the 4k version is $179
this is craziness for the use case of this market.
I get there being a slight apple premium price, but the current prices are completely out of line with everything else in the settop box market.
Roku's can be purchased from $40 with their highest end 4k full featured box being $120.
Chromecasts are $50-90
Amazon Fire devices are $40-120
Apple's TV device? STARTS at $149, and the 4k version is $179
this is craziness for the use case of this market.
The Fire TV Stick has an Ethernet adaptor available.
Same with most Roku's (except the stick)
Though I was pleasantly surprised that the ChromeCast Ultra has a Ethernet port as well.
Right now you can get streaming services such as Amazon Prime, YouTube, HBO, VUDU, Netflix, MLB, NHL, NFL, ESPN, NBCSports, Hulu, Boomerang, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, and probably a lot more. Over the last 3 or 4 years Apple TV has gone from a locked down Apple centric streaming service to a one device that can access most streaming services device.
The remote for ATV still sucks, and I don't have 4K because of my internet speed- which isn't Apples fault, but I've gone from 'why did I buy this' to 'I'm pretty happy' with Apple TV. I'm not a gamer, however, and people who like to play real games would probably do better with Playstation or Xbox and using their streaming services.
I have a PS4 and an Apple TV, and I prefer the Apple TV for streaming and the PS4 for games.
Yes, I prefer the ATV to PS and TiVo for accessing streaming services, the usual Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Showtime, YouTube, etc.
I don't care about 4K YouTube - I don't have a TV for that, unless you count my MacBook Pro.
Internet speeds are peaking at 140 Mb, so multiple streaming is alright - the ATV is hardwired to the web.
I have gotten used to the ATV remote now, even with a sleeve on it - the more I use it the better the experience; it is actually a very good remote, quite intuitive.. Wish they'd shipped the Apple Remote loop with the device.
That would be incredible. But would a “cheap” stick designed to access Apple streaming services go to the expense to add AirPlay? If these are designed for Android users outside the Apple ecosystem, then Airplay would be overkill, especially since the TV likely already has casting support. Apple would probably expect its customers to pay more to get AirPlay.
Also, the last time I tried to use an Apple TV to stream from my phone without internet access, I discovered I couldn’t very effectively. And I wasn’t able to log into some internet services because there’s no browser on the Apple TV to acknowledge terms. Has any or all of this changed?
If Apple is planning some kind of airplay presentation dongle, I’d expect they would charge more for it, and likely bundle it with the latest remote, whereas the “cheap” remote would be more like the ATV 3.
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Unfortunately that's not a good enough selling point for most users. For example, Roku has a complete catalog of streaming services AND has a much cheaper entry point.
Apple needs to work on their rhetoric for why people should use Apple TV. For what it's worth I use my ATV4 daily and it's great even though I am not fond of the control input UX and remote. I prefer tvOS to Android TV, but I definitely see the allure of Roku since I develop for all of these.
For what it's worth, Apple TV is a non player when it comes to numbers in streaming. It will be interesting to see how this Apple dongle, if real, will affect the market. If they stick to being Airplay only, I don't think that will be a big enough selling point unless they release Airplay plugins for practically everything.