“I’ve owned every Apple TV since the original one. I’ve also been a ‘cord cutter’ for many years. I’m the ideal Apple TV owner in a lot of ways,” Bradley Chambers writes for 9to5Mac. “I subscribe to all of Apple’s services (iCloud Storage, Apple Music, etc). I’m all in on HomeKit as well. We actually own five Apple TVs (1 of the 4K models, and 4 of the previous generation ones). I’d say that I’m as big of an Apple TV fan as there is.”
“The problem, I believe, is that it’s become similar to HomePod: a device that’s perfect for people who are all in on Apple. Some people will argue that all of Apple’s products are better when used alongside others,” Chambers writes. “While that’s true, I’d also say that Apple’s best products are also best in class on their own (iPhone, iPad, Mac). I think the Apple TV is great, but it still has some major flaws.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, we agree that with its current feature lineup, the Apple TV is overpriced by about $50. Perhaps in a few months the Apple TV will do a better job of justifying its premium price.
And, yes, Apple TV’s Siri Remote is simply awful.
Short answer, hell NO.
Still an Apple afterthought….. just like the HomePod and pretty much anything Mac. It just doesn’t seem like there is no one steering those ships, they’ve pointed in one direction, and relying on the Jobsian current to take them to their destination.
The AppleTV has not evolved in the way that I expected. The removal of the internal storage surprised me, because I expected the AppleTV to become the media hub and control hub for the smart home. It appears that Apple wants the cloud to be the hub. But the current approach seems a bit haphazard and unfinished to me. I hope that there is a team within Apple that is working to bring all of this together in a clever and simple way.
No it doesn’t – especially given we had to wait over a year longer then others to get 4k, and still no atmos support.
I’ve had a TV 2 since they came out. A month ago I added the 4k. I hope that Atmos will come as a software upgrade, not a need to replace the entire unit again. It’s way overpriced, but I got it because I find it so much easier to use than the competition I tried.
No! I’ve had everything Apple. When I was 12 in the early 80’s I got my first computer. A Apple lle. Since then I’ve bought the first iMac, iPhone 3gs, 5s, 6, Power Macs, Mac Mini, etc but I will not buy a Apple TV. I love my Roku player too much and will not change. Apple can’t win everything and I wish they would focus more of their time to the Mac. The iPhone is getting old and boring, even with the new iPhone X. Apple need to innovate like the fays when Steve Jobs would introduce a new product. I miss those real exciting days when really exciting products were broken ght to the public.
No worries people, I’m sure Apple has responsibly had the same kind of attentive resources for the Apple TV it’s had for years developing the Mac Pro and… Oh wait… D’OH!
Myopia runs rampant of this forum. As an investor I care very much about Apple’s product road map. While Apple may not reveal its road overtly, it history is quite clear.
Apple establishes an end goal (where it believes the puck will be) then introduces the components to fulfill that vision over a period of time, slowly upgrading each element until the final piece is ready to tie it all together.
IMO, the next to last piece in that vision was the HomePod. The last piece will be original video content that will exploit all of the previously released elements, creating an experience the competition won’t be able to match for several years.
As for original content I believe Apple has something up its very long sleeves. Anybody (Netflix, Amazon, Google, HBO, Stars, etc) can produce content, but nobody can produce content that exploits Apple’s hardware/software integration to the extent Apple does.
A product progression that has evolved in this manner has occurred many times in the past. Apple first creates the hardware infrastructure/base, then releases the software that surprises, then delights us.
I’m an investor too.
I hope you are right but I don’t see it.
It appears more from the data of what is happening to the products is that Apple has lost its direction.
Look at the Education market.
Was there a ‘fulfill that vision over a period of time’. Shit no. The recent announcement was a desperate misguided attempt to address LONG standing issues that LOST Apple the market, allowing Chromebooks to grow from zero to 70% and Microsoft most of the rest OVER YEARS. Their desperate correction was a reduced power iPad , in spite of the facts that school boards still don’t want pads… . There was NO plan. There is still no workable plan. They are stumbling around like directionless chickens trying to fix a problem that they allow to fester. ( I wrote about Apple’s education market problems years ago… )
Like the pro Macs, after years of neglect, they sheepishly apologize and say they are trying to fix the issues. Where the ‘plan’ ? they didn’t even have Macs POWERFUL ENOUGH for WRITING SOFTWARE like new VR/AR AND TESTING THEM FOR Apple DEVELOPERS, they had to foist EGPU SOLUTIONS ON THEM !!! Get that? Developers and Apple Staff were forced to use eGPUs — because their own Macs were too weak — until recently when they desperately released the iMac Pro (which isn’t btw the correct design for many pro users who want adaptable machines ). Photos show Ive’s studio in 2016 , three years after the cylinder, using old Cheese Grater Macs, probably for the upgradable GPUs. this isn’t ‘planning’ this is chaos.
I can go on. Like with HomeKit. etc
But it is apparent that Apple under Tim Cook has Apple SVPs INDULGING AT HOBBIES OR PRODUCTS AT THEIR OWN WHIMS like building furniture, luxury accessories for the campus vs updating their Macs. They seem to work haphazardly only if they have some personal interest. Quite the opposite of your deliberate planning argument.
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I had the same kind of arguments with RIM (blackberry) investors years back, they were basking in the solid balance sheets etc and when I warned them I could see cracks when iPhone was announced they said I was crazy. There were Blackberry plans for ‘new better keyboards’. The RIM CEOs lived the high life, laughing, busy hunting for hockey teams to buy (like Ive building furniture while Macs rotted ) one year after the iPhone launch. Although I don’t think they situation at Apple is that dire like RIMs due to it’s low valuation, big buybacks etc , there are worrisome things about PRODUCTS. RIM investors (who have now lost 90% of their peak valuation) looked at RIM from an INVESTING perspective (like they invest in Coca Cola) and not ‘nerd’ which for tech investing is wrong. Nerds are the canary in the coal mines for tech stocks, the early warning system, and nerds are not happy with Tim Cook. Its like if Doctors weren’t happy with a Pharmaceutical company….
Tim Cook needs to get his head out of outa space and back to the grind stone.
Apple TV Remote sucks.
Smart TVs, for all their shortcomings, make Apple TV just another superfluous box. An overpriced one at that.
I like to have movie collections. The 4K Dolbyvision movies are great. But then, apple doesn’t let me organize them the way I want, we can’t edit metadata. It makes me want to go back to Blu-ray.
Does Betteridge apply here?
Has any Apple lifestyle accessory in the last decade justified its price tag?
Has any product managed by Cue ever lived up to its promises, let alone the direct competition?
Who here thinks that Apple has anyone left who cares more about the user experience than the almighty subscription hook?
Is there anything at all related to the AppleTV that makes it work well with any current or legacy Apple or non-Apple hardware and software?
Is Apple too short of cash to buy Tivo and put the Tivo management team in charge of everything that former employee Cue once attempted to run?
Is Apple incapable of simply licensing its AppleTV media rental services to device makers who know how to make smart TVs and decent remotes?
How much more fragmentation does it take for people to realise what incompetent product leaders Apple has right now?