11–20 of 46 posts
The bar is very high for Apple products. The iPod killed the CD player. The iPhone revolutionized the phone market. But the Apple TV? It's yet to cause much disruption.
This sort of public R&D isn't what Apple normally does but I think the challenge of building this product requires it. They need to soften the ground a bit. Of course other companies are working on the same things which helps too. People are comfortable with IPTV services. Current residential broadband can keep up fairly well with good 1080P video. The more SmartPhones and tablets sold the closer we are to ditching a dinky multi-button remote control in favor of multi-touch control. The integration with the cloud for re-downloading content and interconnecting different devices solves a ton of usability problems. Step by step each one of these changes are laying the groundwork for something bigger.
I haven't used the latest iteration of the AppleTV UI, but I did use the last version, and I found it to be pretty terrible. Any time text input was needed, it was a nightmare. I don't know if the new UI took care of that problem, but coupled with the remote (clearly a case of aesthetics chosen of utility), I found the entire experience to be decidedly less enjoyable than any other living room interface - XBox360, PS…
The Apple TV seems to be moving toward an app based approach, so perhaps this UI simply makes more sense in the current ecosystem.
When the Apple TV gets apps I think we will start to see the beginning of the end for Nintendo... thats the iPod for on the move and the Apple TV for the home casual gaming.. You can buy a wii game for £40 or almost 80 59p silly games on the Apple tv... and using iphones / ipod touches as an additional controller...
http://firemint.com/2011/guide-to-setting-up-airplay-and-par...
Isn't Apple TV one of the less successful Apple products? Some may even say a rare flop(by Apple standards). The bar is very high for Apple products. The iPod killed the CD player. The iPhone revolutionized the phone market. But the Apple TV? It's yet to cause much disruption.
Isn't Apple TV one of the less successful Apple products? Some may even say a rare flop(by Apple standards). The bar is very high for Apple products. The iPod killed the CD player. The iPhone revolutionized the phone market. But the Apple TV? It's yet to cause much disruption.
Isn't Apple TV one of the less successful Apple products? Some may even say a rare flop(by Apple standards). The bar is very high for Apple products. The iPod killed the CD player. The iPhone revolutionized the phone market. But the Apple TV? It's yet to cause much disruption.
The well-known comment in the Jobs biography tipped their hand about a further commitment to TV. Literally everybody I've talked to about it balks at the idea of a full-on Apple tv set. That it's too murky, too much tangling with cable providers. Too much competition with existing set makers without the ability to really revolutionize the form-factor like cell phones. That instead they'd just give you a box that you can plug into an existing TV to make it good.
But Jobs (and Apple) have always been about "the whole widget." Moreover, they have a lot of experience building really great large displays.
Besides, TVs need it now. So-called "Smart" IP tv's are the future. TV's already have Apps. And the experience sucks because Samsung, LG, Sony, etc, are not in the business of making first-class software products. I believe the line where steve said he'd "finally cracked it." Because a lot of us I'm sure can see the rough outline of a product there. Let it run iOS. Let me remote control it with my other iOS devices. Let me integrate iTunes/etc in a first-class way. The murky part is: How exactly do you deal with existing cable content. Can I add HBO West to my home screen like an "app" right alongside the HBO Go app? That integration of these 2 side-by-side systems of content delivery (Cable and Internet) is the detail that I think needs to be "cracked." How great would it be to see this product emerge as posthumous part of Jobs' legacy..
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When the Apple TV gets apps I think we will start to see the beginning of the end for Nintendo... thats the iPod for on the move and the Apple TV for the home casual gaming.. You can buy a wii game for £40 or almost 80 59p silly games on the Apple tv... and using iphones / ipod touches as an additional controller...
With AirPlay Apple TV has apps right now. http://firemint.com/2011/guide-to-setting-up-airplay-and-par...