Apple Engineers Reportedly Pessimistic About Apple's Living Room Hardware Strategy

[PinkyMacGodess]

I feel they missed the calling to develop an actual Apple TV, or an Apple Projector.

They could make a massive 5k TV/monitor with the Apple TV magic sauce, and get people to dump their old stuff for the new hotness. If the price is right.

But I think that a large part of the Apple TV price is in the effort that went into them from an engineering and manufacturing angle.

Has anyone ever disassembled one lately? There is an aweful lot that goes into making that little box. If they could cheapen up the manufacturing, like to their competitors leve, AND keep the features and all, they could eat everyone's lunch, but it would likely be another crappy product, and would possibly lose users. I love my Apple TV's. For the most part, they rock, in my opinion, but they could have done it better, sure, and having an actual Apple TV could have been a great way to go.

 

[cmaier]

I feel they missed the calling to develop an actual Apple TV, or an Apple Projector.

They could make a massive 5k TV/monitor with the Apple TV magic sauce, and get people to dump their old stuff for the new hotness. If the price is right.

But I think that a large part of the Apple TV price is in the effort that went into them from an engineering and manufacturing angle.

Has anyone ever disassembled one lately? There is an aweful lot that goes into making that little box. If they could cheapen up the manufacturing, like to their competitors leve, AND keep the features and all, they could eat everyone's lunch, but it would likely be another crappy product, and would possibly lose users. I love my Apple TV's. For the most part, they rock, in my opinion, but they could have done it better, sure, and having an actual Apple TV could have been a great way to go.

I would much rather have a separate box than have it built into the TV - the state of the art of streaming hardware changes a heck of a lot faster than the state of the art in display technology, and when I had to replace my old 1080p set with a 4k set a year ago (the 1080p died), it ended up costing me thousands of dollars (not including the cost of the TV) by the time I was done to get the remote reprogrammed, wires replaced, receiver upgraded, etc. I’d rather go through that less than once per decade, and update an external box every couple of years.

 

[DJ2K3000]

Apple's living room hardware strategy remains poorly defined and lacks a coherent vision, with engineers allegedly pessimistic about the product line, according to a new report.

This year the Apple TV got an iterative update with a redesigned Siri Remote, while the HomePod was discontinued. Apple is now said to be developing a combined HomePod-Apple TV device with a built-in screen and FaceTime camera.

In his latest "Power On" newsletter, however, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman says that Apple engineers have personally expressed concerns to him about the direction of Apple's living room hardware strategy.

Despite the obvious benefits of an Apple TV for users invested in Apple's ecosystem, Gurman opines that the set-top box is largely failing in a market dominated by cheaper alternatives from the likes of Amazon and Roku, and that Apple needs to introduce a more competitively priced stick-like Apple TV or offer more features if it wants to stay relevant in the living room.

However, "as of now, it's hard to believe that will happen soon," claims Gurman, "especially with Apple engineers telling me that the company doesn't have a strong living room hardware strategy and that there isn't much internal optimism."

Gurman points out that the Apple TV software has gone through more interface redesigns that perhaps any other Apple product, and yet still it has failed to crack the market. Meanwhile, Apple's combined Apple TV-HomePod device remains on schedule for release around 2023.

If that doesn't go well, Gurman suggests "it might be time for Apple to consider putting the Apple TV on the same shelf as other living room products like the iPod HiFi and high-end HomePod."

Article Link: Apple Engineers Reportedly Pessimistic About Apple's Living Room Hardware Strategy

Really hope that the Apple TV continues on, or at the very least, Apple continues to support it long after it decides to discontinue it (if of course, they go that way). The main thing I use both my Apple TV's for are to stream my music, movie and TV libraries wirelessly from my iMac to my TVs, and this works very well. For example: I create playlists of different shows and movies on my iMac, and stream them directly from the iMac to either or both of my Apple TVs. I can be watching a show or playlist in the living room, while the kids are watching different shows in the other room or listen to music from the same library on the iMac. This works seamlessly, and extremely well. The Vizio Smart TV in my living room does have the Apple TV app, but it is not able to access my library on the iMac.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I would much rather have a separate box than have it built into the TV - the state of the art of streaming hardware changes a heck of a lot faster than the state of the art in display technology, and when I had to replace my old 1080p set with a 4k set a year ago (the 1080p died), it ended up costing me thousands of dollars (not including the cost of the TV) by the time I was done to get the remote reprogrammed, wires replaced, receiver upgraded, etc. I’d rather go through that less than once per decade, and update an external box every couple of years.

But Apple could make the secret sauce a slot device that could be swapped, and upgraded.

Oh, never mind. When has Apple used the upgrade slots they have put in their own stuff. My bad...

Yeah, I get you... I have been 'gifting' my older Apple TVs to relatives and friends. It impresses them, but does nothing to soften the sticker shock, true...

 

[SnaggleB88]

"Apple TV‌ software has gone through more interface redesigns that perhaps any other Apple product"

With the latest iteration being, by far, the worst yet. Maybe their time would be better spent designing more "emojis."

GOD I miss Steve Jobs.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

For home control, it's hard to have a coherent vision when they're trying to solve nonexistent problems. But also, the ATV doesn't justify its own price.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

I would much rather have a separate box than have it built into the TV - the state of the art of streaming hardware changes a heck of a lot faster than the state of the art in display technology, and when I had to replace my old 1080p set with a 4k set a year ago (the 1080p died), it ended up costing me thousands of dollars (not including the cost of the TV) by the time I was done to get the remote reprogrammed, wires replaced, receiver upgraded, etc. I’d rather go through that less than once per decade, and update an external box every couple of years.

But you can do both. Any TV you get nowadays has features built in that will last quite a while, and if something changes, you can just get the separate box at that point. If you got the box day 1, it'd be equally outdated.

 

[0128672]

Do you have a Series 3, because the Apple TV HD and the 4ks have bluetooth.

You misunderstod. My TV doesn't have bluetooth; my Apple TV HD does.

 

[MacStreamer]

Now that Apple has allowed their TV app to be on every smart device, there's not really a lot of incentive for the majority of streamers to run out and get another $180 streaming box.

 

[mlody]

The moment I get a modern OLED TV to replace my 10+ years old Plasma TV, I will ditch Apple TV, as I won't have any need for it. Right now, because my plasma TV is not very smart TV, I need something to use streaming services and to occasionally AirPlay to it and Apple TV fits the need. I will probably hold off for another 2-3 years before I replace my plasma.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

There really isn't a benefit to apple tv over any competitors

The one benefit is AirPlay. TVs support it too, but not really. It never works right except on the ATV.

 

[jetjaguar]

The current Apple TV supports True Dolby Vision & Atmos. Has a 2.1 HDMI port. The quality is amazing.

It doesnt allow passthrough of truehd atmos

 

[MacStreamer]

Except that it's the best out of all of them.

It is? based on what? market share? features?

 

[sudo-sandwich]

"Apple TV‌ software has gone through more interface redesigns that perhaps any other Apple product"

With the latest iteration being, by far, the worst yet. Maybe their time would be better spent designing more "emojis."

GOD I miss Steve Jobs.

I miss Jobs too, but remember that the failure that was the gen 1 ATV was introduced under his watch. I had one too. Poetic that it ran a stripped down version of Mac OS X Tiger, given that it was basically a nerfed Mac. You could just plug in a Mac and play anything you want instead of dealing with a hobbled device, and that's exactly what I did instead.

 

[cmaier]

But Apple could make the secret sauce a slot device that could be swapped, and upgraded.

Oh, never mind. When has Apple used the upgrade slots they have put in their own stuff. My bad...

Yeah, I get you... I have been 'gifting' my older Apple TVs to relatives and friends. It impresses them, but does nothing to soften the sticker shock, true...

Sure, if Apple made a display where the guts could be easily swapped out, that would be great. They won’t.

 

[sychox51]

“Despite the obvious benefits of an Apple TV for users invested in Apple's ecosystem”

How about the more obvious absence of benefits?

1. Buy an iPhone taking 4K videos.
2. Buy a 2TB iCloud subscription to store and sync your videos.
3. Buy an Apple TV 4K.
4. Watch your videos in 720p on your 60” 4K screen.
5. ???
6. Wonder why this thing isn’t selling so well.

what are you talking about 720p? I watch 4k videos from my iPhone on my appletv 4k from iCloud.

 

[cmaier]

But you can do both. Any TV you get nowadays has features built in that will last quite a while, and if something changes, you can just get the separate box at that point. If you got the box day 1, it'd be just as outdated.

That’s simply false. I have an LG TV and the features built-in are nowhere near as good as what Apple TV provides, and they stop supporting anything more than a couple years old. The apps that are available are nowhere near as good as the Apple TV versions. And if you want to allow the apps to connect to the internet, you generally need to allow the TV to send home data on every show you watch.

At least this way, instead of having to replace an entire TV when the internet-connectivity functions get out of date, I only have to replace a little external box.

 

[moxxham]

It doesnt allow passthrough of truehd atmos

That is all I want from Apple TV. So disappointed that my Atmos setup at home hardly gets any use. Might have to get a Nvidia Shield.

 

[fivetoedbear]

I have an Apple TV 4K. I bought it when they settled their differences with Amazon and Amazon Video made it onto the box. It was a second chance, because my old Apple TV didn't really work.

It's an amazing set top box. The UI is fast and smooth, it has the streaming apps I want, no ads, excellent voice search, and (finally) a decent remote. Also, being able to paste in passwords from my phone is awesome when some of my streaming services decide I need to log in again.

And then for smart speakers I have Amazon Echo. Why? Well, they came out first, they're reasonably priced, they're still sold and supported, and they have an open app ecosystem..where I can listen to Spotify, because Apple Music just didn't get good enough fast enough.

Apple seems to think that that a total Apple ecosystem is great, and it is...mostly. For Mac/iPhone/iPad/Apple TV, the integration is great. Out at the edges, for headphones and speakers and the like, Apple doesn't really have a good selling proposition. Their stuff is overpriced, underfeatured, and closed. So I have Amazon Echo speakers, Bose earbuds, and my sound goes through a Denon AV Receiver. That Denon receiver costs about two HomePods in price, but it drives 5.1 surround speakers, supports Spotify, and switches the rest of my legacy audio/video equipment. And the Denon receiver calibrates custom EQ curves for each speaker, so these old speakers in my acoustically bad room sound like a movie theater.

Friends had their Apple TV die in a lightning strike along with the rest of their entertainment system. Now they have a 4K TV with Roku software built in. The TV still plays Apple TV+. I would say that Roku is the only other smart TV platform worth considering. It's not quite Apple TV, but it is quite good.

The AV accessories market is saturated with many other good players, and Apple has to come out with some outstanding functionality to make a splash. On Apple TV, they did that; the software and UI are well designed.

 

[MacStreamer]

That is all I want from Apple TV. So disappointed that my Atmos setup at home hardly gets any use. Might have to get a Nvidia Shield.

Same here.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Love my Apple TV’s. The built in internet connectivity on my LG tv is terrible, doesn’t get updates after a year or two, never works quite right, constantly is bugging me with unwanted pop ups, and likely tries to send data about everything I watch home (pi-hole FTW).

LG’s webOS is so bad. I’m just glad that HDMI-CEC works so well I don’t have to see it on my CX using the new 2021 Apple TV 4K remote. It breaks my heart to see what they’ve done to Palm’s OS.

 

[MacKid]

It is overpriced.
The remote sucked for years. Then they release the new one and charge more for the remote than most charge for their sticks. (I bought two because the old remotes were so bad)

The newest AppleTV was basically a cheaper newer almost-equal processor "upgrade" so they can likely shut down the production of the old CPUs, not to really give anyone new functionality or capabilities.

Their lack of strategy for years has been apparent. Whats weird is they are basically resting the destiny of some very large services on it.... AppleTV+ (yes, you can watch it else where, but due to the similar name, most people I talk to think you need an AppleTV box, or at least an Apple product, neither of which are true. It would have been better with a new non-apple brand name I think), and Apple Fitness... which lets be honest, works best on the TV for most things....

We know the BOM on this device is quite low, they should cut into their huge margins because it is a gateway device to their services, which we know is where they really want to make their money.

The most important comment in this thread. Streaming platforms are the gateways that desktop OSs used to be.

Refusing to move on HomePod pricing meant Alexa won the home. Refusing to move on Apple TV pricing will be a costlier mistake for TV+, Fitness, Arcade… when’s the last time anyone rented a movie on iTunes? Services revenue is only holding strong because of the App Store tax, along with the joke that is iCloud storage.

 

[FattiesGoneWild]

It’s priced to high and no tv stick offered either. Despite that. I love mine and have 4 in the house. 3 1st gen 4K and 1 2nd gen 4K.

 

[poematik13]

There really isn't a benefit to apple tv over any competitors

Youve never used one. Its smooth and doesnt lag, unlike all the other $40 stick junk

 

[PBRsg]

By 2015 when Apple decided to finally add third-party app support, they also decided to jack up the Apple TV‘s price and ruin the remote, so that didn’t help.

It is not possible to make a worse remote than what came with the Apple TV 3A.