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Apple's iTV Set for September Launch With iAd-Supported Channels, iPad as Remote?

Small White Car said:
See, you've invented a problem yourself and then assumed that it's the way Apple would do it. You're saying that they will include a cut-down, useless remote and then you're saying that it's a problem because it's useless and cut-down.

What makes you think that's what they'll do? That was your idea, not Apple's. You're kind of chasing your own tail here.
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Hmmm. We've seen the $99 associated with the iTV for a long time. Does anyone believe the product is going to be priced at anything other than $99? In the past when low prices have been thrown out, it seems points of (higher price) contention show up so that Apple can wow everyone when they come out with something lower than the latter rumored prices (but higher than the former). I assume Apple might feed those latter rumors themselves when they notice that someone has guessed too low, and it's gaining some traction.

My guess about a classic remote is built on the price of $99. I just don't envision a touch screen in a box with a new iTV unit for $99. I can envision a non-touch (classic?) remote in the box.

I'm also NOT saying that would be useless & cut down. A tactile remote lets you control what you are watching solely based on touch (not look at it so you can touch the right spots), which is how much of the world controls their TV viewing now.

It's only a problem for how to then make the tactile remote reconcile with how current apps are used in other iOS devices. Best I can guess if we're going to get some kind of touch-oriented element, it is probably going to be something more like the Magic Mouse (no screen) with a partially transparent circle(s) on (the TV) screen to show the relative position of your fingers to the app interface (much like how touch demonstrations were shown via quicktime demo videos on the Apple website). Would this work well or be clumsy? I'm guessing the latter but we'll see if that's the way it is delivered.

OR, maybe we get a customized app store that doesn't need much in the way of touch beyond what can be done on the tactile remote (or it's replacement)?

Anyway, I just can't picture a touch screen remote and an iTV in a box from Apple priced at $99. Since I can picture $99, one of those is probably not in the box, and since the iTV has to be in a box labeled iTV...

Since you need some kind of remote to control an iTV, if we believe that $99 is the price, then some cheap remote has to be in the box. Thus, we probably end up with a classic tactile remote included (with the option to also control it with remote apps on iDevices).

My guess is that the best we could hope for at $99, while still trying to cover some of the breadth of accumulated wishes, would be some kind of new- but still tactile- remote that might have additional buttons, etc on it for other kinds of interactivity. Maybe some wii-like controller elements? Maybe a joystick or joypad? Etc.
 
"iPad as a "big badass remote control" - yeah remote apps exist already. I think Apple will include a remote control possibly a lightweight touchscreen or the recently update Apple remote that comes with some Mac's.
 
I cancelled my cable television almost a year ago and have only been paying for internet since then. The prices all of the cable/dish companies are charging is ridiculous. I refuse to pay it. I can live without cable television. Hopefully Apple & Google will revolutionize the television industry. This is what I have been waiting for. Internet based television for a price everyone can afford.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Some suspect that these are the same thing- this new iTV is a next-gen airport express with video options.
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Well if that's the case, bet your bottom dollar I'm buying one (just got so giddy I used the phrase "bet your bottom dollar"). I can see how that would work considering they had already had the idea of AirTunes before cloud iTunes was around.
 
Shaun said:
I don't think the new AppleTV will be what many people are speculating. I think it will look and work more like Apple's AirPort Express. It will be a simple/cheap way of streaming content from your Mac, iOS device, TimeCapsule or iDisk account. As such it will have no hard drive and will be controlled via an iOS App so you can use your iOS device as a remote control. Simply plug it in and connect it to your TVs HDMI port and for $99 you can watch all your iTunes content on your big screen TV no matter where your content is stored.
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I like the way you think, sounds very plausible to me, especially with the speculated pricepoint and all the newest iOS devices sporting 802.11n...
 
tekmoe said:
I cancelled my cable television almost a year ago and have only been paying for internet since then. The prices all of the cable/dish companies are charging is ridiculous. I refuse to pay it. I can live without cable television. Hopefully Apple & Google will revolutionize the television industry. This is what I have been waiting for. Internet based television for a price everyone can afford.
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Does the company that delivers broadband to you also have a TV-subscription service? If you are like most Americans, the answer is probably yes. If so, and this new solution gains some traction, what do you think is most likely to happen with broadband rates?
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Does the company that delivers broadband to you also have a TV-subscription service? If you are like most Americans, the answer is probably yes. If so, and this new solution gains some traction, what do you think is most likely to happen with broadband rates?
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Especially when internet providers (comcast) own content providers (NBC).


steviem said:
I hope you factor in Aperture and FCP replacement costs too then.
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FCP is not as hard to replace as one would think. Especially when the competition has made such strides lately.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Hmmm. We've seen the $99 associated with the iTV for a long time. Does anyone believe the product is going to be priced at anything other than $99? In the past when low prices have been thrown out, it seems points of (higher price) contention show up so that Apple can wow everyone when they come out with something lower than the latter rumored prices (but higher than the former). I assume Apple might feed those latter rumors themselves when they notice that someone has guessed too low, and it's gaining some traction.

My guess about a classic remote is built on the price of $99. I just don't envision a touch screen in a box with a new iTV unit for $99. I can envision a non-touch (classic?) remote in the box.

I'm also NOT saying that would be useless & cut down. A tactile remote lets you control what you are watching solely based on touch (not look at it so you can touch the right spots), which is how much of the world controls their TV viewing now.

It's only a problem for how to then make the tactile remote reconcile with how current apps are used in other iOS devices. Best I can guess if we're going to get some kind of touch-oriented element, it is probably going to be something more like the Magic Mouse (no screen) with a partially transparent circle(s) on (the TV) screen to show the relative position of your fingers to the app interface (much like how touch demonstrations were shown via quicktime demo videos on the Apple website). Would this work well or be clumsy? I'm guessing the latter but we'll see if that's the way it is delivered.

OR, maybe we get a customized app store that doesn't need much in the way of touch beyond what can be done on the tactile remote (or it's replacement)?

Anyway, I just can't picture a touch screen remote and an iTV in a box from Apple priced at $99. Since I can picture $99, one of those is probably not in the box, and since the iTV has to be in a box labeled iTV...

Since you need some kind of remote to control an iTV, if we believe that $99 is the price, then some cheap remote has to be in the box. Thus, we probably end up with a classic tactile remote included (with the option to also control it with remote apps on iDevices).

My guess is that the best we could hope for at $99, while still trying to cover some of the breadth of accumulated wishes, would be some kind of new- but still tactile- remote that might have additional buttons, etc on it for other kinds of interactivity. Maybe some wii-like controller elements? Maybe a joystick or joypad? Etc.
Click to expand...

That's some pretty impressive leaps of logic. How do you even imagine a $99 AppleTV/iTV? A device at that price from Apple will almost certainly be subsidized.

Also, what makes you think it would run current iOS apps natively?
 
brendon2020 said:
can't wait for the day i can call comcast and tell them to **** off.
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Doesn't Comcast deliver your broadband to you? Aren't they also one of the big boys fighting for tiered pricing based on how much we download (in other words, higher download volume equals higher fees for broadband)?

I'm also with Comcast and I have ONE other choice in AT&T DSL. But both have TV-subscription offerings as well, and neither wants to lose TV-subscription revenues to someone like Apple. I 100% expect that since there is hardly any competition (to turn to), both would raise their broadband rates and/or implement tiered pricing based on download volume if this kind of solution started meaningfully cutting into a very lucrative cash cow.

It's great to dream, but until there is either more competition serving broadband (especially competitors that don't also serve video subscription services), or until Apple can bypass using their pipes (which would involve something like buying DISH so that they can connect with you directly from the iTunes cloud), I just don't see the Comcasts, AT&Ts, etc being nice about letting Apple use their pipe to cut their cumulative revenues.

All that said, I'm with you on that dream though.
 
BaldiMac said:
That's some pretty impressive leaps of logic. How do you even imagine a $99 AppleTV/iTV? A device at that price from Apple will almost certainly be subsidized.

Also, what makes you think it would run current iOS apps natively?
Click to expand...

I envision a $99 iTV because we've seen that price over and over for months, but no other rumored pricing. In the past, it seems rumored Apple products with low pricing have subsequent leaks of higher pricing to get price expectations more toward what will actually be THE price. That hasn't happened with this iTV rumor, so I'm assuming that $99 might really be THE price, or near to it.

A subsidy would be a whole other can of worms. Who is subsidizing it? Are we talking some kind of 3G contract? If so, why? Are we talking some kind of cable-TV-like subscription. If so, that would probably be Apple taking on the role of a next-gen Comcast. Would that imply, that Apple is going to sell it for $99 with some kind of 12 or 24-month subscription at $XX per month?

Then, we would have to see the $XX as well as what's in the subscription to decide if $99 is bargain, good, not so good, or rip off. What's the penalty for quitting the service early? Etc. It's a bit harder for me to imagine Apple in that kind of role, unless they've observed how lucrative the iPhone subscriptions have been for AT&T and decided they want to get in on that side of the transaction in a big(ger) way.
 
MrSmith said:
iPad as a remote? :D Good one!
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I would hope it would have bluetooth as well, with BUILT IN support for a Wii remote...THAT would be awesome....I know a jailbroken device can use a Wii as a joystick, so having support for that would be great, especially if I am going to have this iTV connected to my TV and Stereo anyway, why not be able to play my games on there, with a real joystick type device, instead of just iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad "Remotes".

Apple needs to start thinking a little out of the box. I tiny bit of functionality like this would take them a long way. Include a Cable Card slot, so I can replace my DVR with it and get a FIOS Cable Card.....then use it as my DVR/Set Top Box, Game Center.

One device like this could remove my Blu-Ray player (with You Tube, Netflix, Pandora) and my STB (DVR with Facebook, YouTube and other widgets) and Wii (General Games, Netflix etc), especially if game developers start making more advanced games for the platform, and a real joystick was available. I would love a Boxee or Plex interface, as well as a MAME interface and being able to run other emulators on it....imagine.

But I know that is all a pipe dream and I am realistic enough to know we won't get anything close to that.
 
Donz0r said:
I am really really excited for this.

The Television industry is overdue for a revolution - and Apple is just the company to make it happen.

Cool idea (but won't happen) is a camera for FaceTime on the iTV. Who knows, maybe if they're really serious about Face Time they would do this
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Yeah... about that. Could you tell us how this will be different from HULU? (i.e. ad-sponsored IPTV)?
 
Small White Car said:
The current iPhone apple-remote looks and works a LOT like the iPhone's iPod app. It works great. I'm not sure what problems you're imagining here.
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The Apple Remote app DOES look a lot like the iPod app. That's sort of my point, though: to use it you have to be staring at your iPhone to select what music you want to play, etc. You are not staring at your TV screen for that (nor would you want to be, necessarily), so there is no problem for that particular functionality.

But other apps might be best enjoyed while looking at the TV screen while you are controlling them, (games are one example, but I could imagine others, like a Flickr app, for example, where you want to tap a particular area of the screen, like a photo thumbnail). To use an iphone-based remote app to do that, the user has to either be looking at the iphone screen while tapping to select the thing they want, or using an app like Rowmote that shows a simulated physical remote with up/down left/right buttons, which you then use to highlight the appropriate thumbnail or menu-selection.

I currently use an old powerbook G4 "permanently" hooked up to my TV to stream content from my main mac through front-row. I use Rowmote to control it, but Front Row is a highlight/selection user interface, meaning it essentially has a cursor on the screen. When I'm not in front row, I use AirMouse as a trackpad to control the mouse pointer and surf the web, etc. That works well enough, but my wife (and most of my other family members) find it too cumbersome to use, and don't want to invest the time to "memorize" the location of the up/down/left/right buttons on the iphone screen so that they can use the iphone app while looking at the TV screen. Hence, I'd expect Apple to come up with a more accessible interface that allows you to control your iTV apps while allowing you to continue looking at the TV screen, not your iPhone/iPad screen.

. . .
Small White Car said:
Pretty much every other video game console known to man has not had a cursor on screen. (The Wii offers it, but it's not a big part of most games.)

How do they do it?

Simple. Game designers are smart enough to design games that work with the controls they're given. If developers are stupid enough to make an AppleTV game that doesn't work with the AppleTV controls (whatever they are) well, that's their problem.
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I guess what I'm really curious about is how existing apps which rely heavily on the look-and-tap method of touch screen control are going to make their way to an iTV device. I mean, IMO, the biggest competitive strength Apple is going to have in this market is the existing App Store. You buy your iTV, and you've already got hundreds of thousands (don't know exact number) apps available for it on launch day. But so many of those apps are set up for the look-and-tap method of control. (you see the button you want to tap, you move your finger to tap it.) That only works if you are looking at the screen you are tapping on (iPad,iPhone,iPod Touch). That won't be the case for the iTV.

In other words: Your point is valid for NEW iTV apps: the developers will utilize the available iTV control system (whatever that is). But I'm wondering how we will control our old iPhone apps on the iTV. . . there is considerable market pressure for Apple to come up with something that allows users to use their iPhone apps (games especially, as they make up the bulk of the app store) on the new iTV device.
 
Please add:

1080p
support to external drives for unlimited local data storage

I just hope is not only another fancy way to consume iTunes content.
 
We're still using our old, 4:3 Sony tube TV until it dies, but if something like this gives me the option to opt of a monthly cable bill I'll dump that TV AND cable and upgrade immediately.

I'm excited to see the potential for this. The Google TV is intriguing, but my experience with Android really makes me prefer a nice looking UI over free, ad-based clunky controls.
 
It could work

levitynyc said:
I have and watch my Apple TV to avoid ads and commercials. iAd on Apple TV seems kind of backwards.

If I wanted to sit through ads, I'd watch regular TV.
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The good thing is that you would be able to watch whatever you want (even really old shows) on demand without having to pay for them. Also, you wouldn't have to worry about setting up some sort of recording device like Tivo to be able to watch what you want. This model would also be cool to watch stuff that isn't really running anymore like the old 70's Pink Panther cartoons for example. This could be a game-changer...the only question is whether media companies will be on board...they're notoriously short-sighted and risk averse.
 
don't tie me to a mac anymore apple tv!

i have a current apple tv. to me it's biggest let down is the streaming videos from your mac. it doesn't work well, it's non intuitive (non apple) and goes against the who iOS ethos in my opinion. streaming from your computer isn't very apple. of course without streaming you're limited to the capacity of apple tv and the new itv/apple tv is rumored to be 32 GB - what a joke.

the cloud isn't ready and won't be for 5-10 years optimistically.

i would combine timecapsule and apple tv so you have 1-2 TB of storage! it's one less box under your tv too.

also, make any touchscreen smartphone (android, blackberry, iphone, palm) a functioning remote/ app / game controller on day one and you add more universal appeal.

also offer a trade in credit for your dvds - that would be revolutionary. i would like to have my 300+ dvd collection digital on my apple tv but i'm not about to take a year out of my life to handbrake all of them!

get together with the movie companies - tell them they can make x% more revenue on dvds they already sold if they sign up for this trade in program.

even with this, i just apple has to offer about the same amount of programming for less money than cable. in some parts of the country - hd cable is less than $50 a month so that's going to be a hard for apple to pull off.
 
Just bought a PS3 mainly for the blu-ray player part. Netflix streaming is awesome on it since it upconverts it to HD. unlike the built in netflix on a lot of TV's. too bad the selection isn't that good.

i'll probably pass on Apple TV. the last thing i want is to buy crappy quality movies and have to worry about backing them up since apple won't let you download it again. it's 2010 and i can download a game as often as i want from Steam, why is it that Apple's back end systems are so behind the tech curve?

and my wife wants to see shows as they are being broadcast, not download a day later
 
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