Apple Considering Low Cost Apple TV Dongle to Provide Wider Access to Upcoming Streaming Service

[xp84]

ATV is a ridiculous product at way over 2x the price point of the devices everyone buys for the purpose.* A cheap device with no 4k (since Apple has to make you feel like you're missing out if you get the cheap one but nobody needs 4k since streaming will never be 4k in reasonable compression quality anyway) would be a great way to do this. With an Apple CPU it could be at least as fast as the fire stick - which is excellent - for a few dollars more. They could go from being a distant last place in this market to a player. Which is just what they need to actually sell their TV service.

*Now, that same thing could be correctly said to be true of every Mac model, but they have OS lock-in on their side there. iPhone too but was again the OS is popular enough to carry them for now.
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I love the fact that the Apple TV has wired ethernet, too. I like being able to plug it directly into my network and not have potential interference affect it when I'm watching stuff. Stuff like Chromecast and FireTV don't have that; you MUST use WiFi.

Fire TV has an Ethernet dongle available for like $20 or something. Not really that big a deal to justify the $140 price difference between the Fire TV stick and the Apple TV.

 

[albebaubles]

My guess is this is being conflated with the new TVs coming out with airplay2 support.

 

[lederermc]

ATV is a ridiculous product at way over 2x the price point of the devices everyone buys for the purpose.* A cheap device with no 4k (since Apple has to make you feel like you're missing out if you get the cheap one but nobody needs 4k since streaming will never be 4k in reasonable compression quality anyway) would be a great way to do this. With an Apple CPU it could be at least as fast as the fire stick - which is excellent - for a few dollars more. They could go from being a distant last place in this market to a player. Which is just what they need to actually sell their TV service.

*Now, that same thing could be correctly said to be true of every Mac model, but they have OS lock-in on their side there. iPhone too but was again the OS is popular enough to carry them for now.
[doublepost=1548778644][/doublepost]
Fire TV has an Ethernet dongle available for like $20 or something. Not really that big a deal to justify the $140 price difference between the Fire TV stick and the Apple TV.

The last think I want is Jeff Bezos knowing about everything I watch on TV and probably listening to me banging the wife.

 

[Mac 128]

My guess is this is being conflated with the new TVs coming out with airplay2 support.

Maybe. But it doesn’t eliminate the need for a low cost dongle. It’ll be a number of years before every hotel I check into has AirPlay2 capable sets. Likewise for corporate presentation monitors. My company is still using TV sets over 10 years old. We have a few newer 60” panels, but even they don’t have Chromecast.

A friend who is an Apple devotee with an iPhone, MacBook, iPad and Apple TV, just bought a fire stick to use in hotels when she travels. This is a hole in Apple’s ecosystem, as an Apple TV isn’t really the most ideal device to transport, and isn’t that easy to setup.