“In his recent biography of Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson says the Apple visionary revealed to him that he had finally ‘cracked’ the problem with TV and was working on what he called an ‘integrated television set,'” Joshua Topolsky reports for The Verge via The Washington Post.
“Dubbed ‘iTV’ by the tech press, the late Jobs’s final project appears to be the creation of Apple’s own TV product and content solutions to compete with cable,” Topolsky reports. “In the latest version of its mobile operating system (iOS), Apple expanded a technology called AirPlay to include device “mirroring” between the $99 Apple TV and the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. The technology allows you to beam content from your mobile devices to your television, including video, audio and even games in real time. Suddenly, what you can do with your TV is a much larger offering.”
Topolsky reports, “Apple is making the device in your hands the hub in your living room simply by interfacing through the Apple TV. Imagine if the company decided to produce a line of televisions with similar technology built in. The Apple TV already runs the same mobile OS as the company’s phones and tablets — why wouldn’t a TV set? … [Apple] could change the entire paradigm of TV-watching and home entertainment. Instead of being locked into big, messy plans on big, messy devices, you may find yourself picking and choosing your services like you pick your apps, perhaps paying a small fee each month to keep the fresh content coming in.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Edward Weber” for the heads up.]
Build it, and they will come! I have 3 Apple TVs that I rarely use, because movie rentals r so expensive in HD and top out at a lame 720 dpi. I order Netflix Blurays to satisfy my thirst for 1080 content. Apple has to make a big leap to keep me interested. Fees for content is very unpopular, but then again DirecTV is very expensive for the 5% of the channels I watch! Go Apple!
Again, iTV is not necessary Jobs’ last project, and it is not even necessary the first project of his among released in the future. And, there is still no guarantee that iTV will be released since this matter is very complicated according to Jobs’ last year interview to Mossberg.
The tv industry has no profit margin, owners replace their sets only when they die. why would you want to attack this commodity market when a set top box could add functionality, protect profit margin and allow for a more predictable upgrade cycle.
So totally agree. The tv is a dumb screen. HDMI puts anything there you wish. No need to build a dumb screen, just a smart AppleTv box.
Just a thought,
en
Yes, the ‘set top box’ on every digital TV should come from Apple. That means sales to cable and satellite companies, not consumers.
Why would owners replace their sets only when they die? Can you fit a new 50″ LED TV in a coffin?
I’m just funnin’ with ya buddy!
Ok, I have the very first and the last generation AppleTV. They work exactly the way I expect them to at this point. I think that they will do much more as Apple opens up what they will let us do with them. Just Siri and “mirroring” will change the AppleTV’s future in my home. If Apple lets the AppleTV 2nd generation use apps and inputs from other iOS devices in the house, this will change what people watch and do from their couch at home.
I believe that the cable companies do not understand what is about to happen to them. Why pay a monthly fee to watch TV show on a fixed schedule that are infested with 6 or 8 commercials every 6 to 8 minutes that we watch the show. The same show is FREE at online sites with ONE commercial every 6 or 8 minutes.
FREE TV shows on my schedule with a fraction of the commercials vs today’s expensive bloated commercial infested cable crap. Anyone seeing the future yet?
Most of the time, when we sit down to watch TV it’s for one of 3 reasons.
(1) The local news & weather.
(2) To browse the channels to find something interesting or entertaining to watch, where we don’t know what we want until we see it.
(3) Something specific that we’ve learned about (usually while watching an ad from #1 or #2).
I’ve yet to see how iTV or any on-demand service is going to address #1 and #2. I’ll assume that there would be a list of on-demand programs available (like on DirecTV) but so far I’ve not seen that mentioned. Still, what about my local channels?
When Siri meets up with the tv you can simply give voice commands for searches etc.
“what football games are on today” _ Here’s a list of what is on right now along with the start times of later games…. Would you like to watch or record one?
Are there any Quintin Terrantino movies on today?…. No but here are some movies from similar directors……
Direct TV had a lesson over the past week or so. They stated they were going to drop Fox channels plus a few other because of a row with Fox. What that showed was that the majority of Direct customers wanted was to be able to purchase the ten or so channels they watch, rather than 263 cooking/cosmetic and sales channels that they have to buy monthly. If Apple could come out with a TV that allowed choice, like iTunes, I believe they would have a winner. Of course Apple has lost their genius negotiator now. RIP Steve.
Maybe the “genius” but not the apprentice, Cook is a very ABLE negotiator and Steve left them with a war chest that no one can ignore or muscle around. Cook and company have all the leverage they need.
Judging from the articles recently, many believe when Jobs refers to ‘cracking’ how to control TV, he means Siri.
I believe it’s the iPad, or an iPad like device (7″?). With the iPad, you get a keyboard for searching, a pointer for selecting, finger for scrolling, and customizable button sets for days. Throw in Siri for some basic commands and you have the best way to control just about anything.
Can anyone actually imagining trying to use Siri to scroll down a channel guide while just looking around for something to watch…. “scroll, scroll, down, info, guide scroll scroll, scroll, scroll, info, back, scroll scroll, info, view” Sure, it works great if you know what you’re looking for, but often, I’m just looking for something interesting.
Ah, yes. Joshua Topolsky of This is My Next fame. The same sniveling little brat blogger who fanned the flames of the iPhone 5, shouting from his blog that this was a done deal, until the Wall $treet anal-ysts took him at his word to predict the same thing, all without verified facts, of course, short of referencing a bunch of shady Chinese silicon case makers operating from a back alley in Senzhen.
The result: Apple reports huge earnings in line with the company’s guidance for the most recent quarter, but the analysts, who are snorting greed based on Topolsky’s flimsy blogged claims, express disappointment because their earnings projections where insanely inaccurate to begin with. The result: Apple gets bitch-slapped and its stock price tumbles.
Look, I am excited at the prospect too, and I also want world peace and the tooth fairy to show up at my house. But that does not translate into facts. Please, please do not take the word of Topolsky or any other boy-man wimp blogger who uses anatomic extraction on which to base their alleged “facts.” It’s rubbish.
Repeat after me:
I will not trust some punk blogger still living in his parent’s basement.
I will not trust some punk blogger still living in his parent’s basement.
I will not trust some punk blogger still living in his parent’s basement.
I will not trust some punk blogger still living in his parent’s basement.
I will not trust some punk blogger still living in his parent’s basement.
I will not trust some punk blogger still living in his parent’s basement.
Got it? Thank you.
Stuff like this makes my head hurt.
The mere existence of a TV with the Apple logo will not change a damn thing. The only reason to have an iTV is if Apple convinces a majority of the networks and content providers to abandon their current marketing models. Anything else is just gadget lust.
You are exactly right. Unless some content deals are worked out to allow some streaming of channels no only available in tiers with out the crap that goes with them, the iTV may look cute, but that’s about all.
Sure, Apple may come up with a cool new way to do what you do with the remote now, but I don’t think that’d be enough to make a lot of people swap out their current TV for a new one.
For me, the Game Changer would be access to current, pay channel content that is only available with way overpriced “tiers”.
Think for a second. Apple would’nt touch the TV market or any other market for that matter if they didn’t believe they could transform it. Their plans are much more than just placing an Apple logo on a TV and calling it revolutionary. There was a time when nobody thought they could negotiate a deal with the music industry, but they did and the marketing model changed drastically. Apple would not pursue the TV market if they didn’t think they could do the same thing. In every market Apple has entered so far, the game has been changed. They aren’t going to change their strategy with TV. My opinion is this won’t be “gadget lust”. If they truly have cracked it like they say, currently unhappy TV subscribers will be flocking to this. However, it might not roll out in the beginning with every major network and provider on board. As we saw in the music industry, it took a little time. All you have to do is look at the Apple history. Their methods, their focus, customer trust, customer service, product, and product performance. Once you see where they’ve been, it’s not hard to see where their going with this venture or any other. So why waste your time crapping thoughts out of your mouth when odds are it’s gonna exceed all of your thoughts combined?
I still think everyone is not thinking this through. Apple has never been about low margin products – they leave that for the other guys.
If Apple is going to do anything inside of a TV set, then it will be licensing the AppleTV to TV manufacturers for them to build within the TV itself.
This would make every enabled TV capable of being a monitor for your iPhone, iPod, iPad wherever you go. Buy a TV at home and one at work, and your iPad becomes your computer for both places.
There are NO margins worth fighting for in the TV market. Steve said he had the interface figured out, not a TV. Doh!
And it wont be called ITV!
This name already belongs to a UK TV station/studio since 1955;
http://www.itv.com
ITV also sells product worldwide so a different name in the UK for the Apple TV wont work. Considering how Apple makes sure websites with any Apple brand in the name are closed down, I think they might need another name this time.
And CISCO owned “iPhone”. Your point would be?
I think there is a fly in the ointment of this new online, digital entertainment utopia so many are drooling over.
Where are the ISPs?
Win-Win.
Perhaps Jobs discovered the “win-win” for content creators and consumers that could disrupt the market dynamics.
If Apple could provide a direct conduit between content providers and consumers, with a means to fairly compensate the content providers, then Apple could produce a win-win, and a big loss for the existing aggregators.
The giant server farm might hold the answer. A means to stream on-demand content from a content provider to the consumer.
Apple could finally be the company that lets consumers subscribe to only the content providers of their choice. This would be a game changer.
I know MDN wants us to pay for the channels that few watch, but they are really off-base on this issue.
Is this the best the RUMOR HYPE MACHINE can come up with today? Dragging out the old ‘iTV’ name again? Please just STFU and wait for the real thing.
2011 has got to be the lamest year for Apple rumors in history.