Steve’s Final “One More Thing…”

Ok, let's take a crack at this.

1) iPhone as remote: First, they would probably allow iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches to be used as remotes. That would be the recommended use case, and in fact they've already got this with the new iOS5 Airplay:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/airplay.html

2) TVs are lean back: Next, the key question is: what is the difference between a TV and a computer monitor? They are converging in many ways, but probably the most important differences are that a TV is lower res, bigger, with less control over content, and situated at a distance. It's a lean back experience as opposed to a lean forward one. So whatever you do with TV has to focus on the lean back/remote control experience. The Airplay link above seems like a real key to this, to make the iPhone the ultimate remote.

3) Show-specific remote control apps: In fact, given that the iPhone's display is programmable, you could make it a responsive remote that changes its UI in response to what's on the screen. So for example, if you are watching the Office, your iPhone's remote app could show the top rated episodes of all time, with comments next to them. Tap that episode to watch it.

Going further with this, basically you could integrate the show website with the remote for a kind of "show specific app remote". You'd want to make this something that wasn't too much of a distraction while watching, but that you used to quickly get to the good stuff or learn more about a particular actor or fact -- or product -- in the show. For season long serial dramas, the remote might also show which previous episodes you should have watched to understand what's on the screen.

4) iTunes+iMovie for independent film monetization: TV content is programmable and you could supply that with iTunes. Hulu, Netflix, and Youtube are also potential content providers.

It might be more interesting if iTunes opened up "show development" in the same way that the iPhone opened up "app development". Make iMovie and iTunes really, really tightly integrated such that it's now incredibly easy for anyone to develop a TV show, push it out to everyone, and monetize it through iTunes.

While you're at it, integrate GarageBand and iTunes to do the same for music. Get all the bands which were internet savvy enough to set up on Myspace and attract visitors, and do the Amazon disintermediation strategy. Basically, allow bands and independent filmmakers to monetize without Hollywood and the record industry.

5) iTV Genius recommendations: one of the most interesting concepts with your super remote would be a smart clicker that would not just change the channel, but would be like a Zite for TV. With a deep knowledge of what you liked and what you didn't like, it'd almost certainly bring up something good.

6) Lean back applications: iTV could also be a deployment point for "lean back apps" beyond standard TV fare which are meant to be controlled with the remote. These could be Keynote presentations, educational presentations, or basically new kinds of apps that are meant to be interacted with at a distance through a smart remote. Again, iOS5's Airplay integration will be the first preview of these sorts of apps.

7) A true universal remote: If people get accustomized to this sort of thing, they'll expect a location-aware remote control interface to a lot of physical objects. This has a ton of potential. Not just for garage door openers and automobiles, but for restaurants, ticket vendors, home automation, and the like. Lockitron sees some of this potential already, I think.

This is just for starters. There's a lot they could do.

I know he loves Apple, but that does not mean his articles are junk. In fact, they are quite the opposite. I love his article writing style, his logical approach to thinking, his ability to dig information (like his frequent articles on things going on in the google chrome project, Facebook insider info, apple insider info, etc), his ability to make articles interesting, etc. One needs to read his articles with an open mind, enjoy the content/news, but assuming he will be slightly biased towards Apple and/or more excited about Apple than a typical geek would be, but that does not mean his articles will be crap.

That's not what I said - being dishonest and being exploitative are not synonymous per se.

SJ and Apple have been fantastically successful at leveraging their position. The company has produced amazing products, but you'd be foolish to think that their margins aren't anything but ridiculous.

The latest generation of microprojectors would make more sense than really big displays. Imagine buying something roughly the size of an AppleTV or Mac Mini which also is the television - you just point it at a white wall or sheet or screen for a nearly arbitrarily-sized screen.

I use a projector tv at home now but it's a pain to configure because it's designed to work with too many kinds of input. Integrate a more compact and elegantly designed projector with iTV, make iPad and iPhone your control surfaces but download content from the cloud - it could work. And unlike the big flatscreen, it'd be easy to take to the Apple Store for service/diagnostic if need be.

Jobs showed little of himself outside of keynotes and interviews with Mossberg, Swisher and Pogue.

There are anecdotes that he did care about education such as an Arrington article leading up to the iPad which said he wanted to use use the iPad to change education. He was also an active parent, though not as much as he may have liked.

It's not that much of a stretch to believe that someone like Jobs would think about ways to change education. There are excerpts from the book stating this.