“And while Apple continues to deny that they’re working on a next generation television, you’d have to be an idiot reporter for even expecting Apple to say: ‘Oh, yes, we’re about to reinvent television and here are the juicy details.’ Ha! If you know Apple, then you know not to ask questions about ‘future products’ and expect a reply,” Purcher reports. “With that said, a very simple Apple patent was published today by the USPTO that insists that the company’s Apple TV remote is to work with a clearly defined television – beyond what we know as Apple TV – the set top box style unit.”
“Anyone following Apple knows what Apple TV is – including its unique little infrared remote, so I’m not going to go over the same old tech. I’m just going to point out that Apple mentions ‘television’ separately from Apple TV noted as a ‘set top box,’ eleven times,” Purcher reports. “What threw me for a moment is that Apple’s patent [illustration] shows a computer display-like device and of course my mind paid no attention to their visual that they presented. Well, until Apple insisted that it wasn’t a desktop computer nor a computer display – that is. In plain English, they’re calling it a ‘television.'”
Purcher reports, “Sorry, but that wasn’t an accident. Engineers who design Apple’s products aren’t going to call something a television that is clearly an iMac, a desktop or simply a Cinema Display. Sometimes a television is just that, a television.”
Full article, with patent illustrations, here.
[Attribution: ZDNet]
Out goes my Bang & Olufsen
Apple should somehow license some of the AppleTV goodness to someone like Panasonic or Samsung and let them worry about the razor thin margins on HDTVs.
I’ve always said that Apple should design televisions and remote controls for for home theater systems. After seeing the inordinate amount of frustration some people (especially the elderly) have with these devices, Apple could provide people with something that is sorely needed. Simplicity and ease of use for TVs and home A/V systems. The products available now are all so needlessly complicated to the point of being stupid. I don’t have any trouble figuring it all out but for some, none of it makes any sense. When people have to work that hard for home entertainment, it taints the whole experience.
Poring over patents for clues is the equivalent of staring at the moon for clues.
My father-in-law has alzheimer’s but chooses to live alone. Twice a week I have to go to his house to sync his TV to his cable box when he hits the wrong remote button. A single unit would be wonderful. I’ll wait in line for that one.
Apple is the victim of the largest theft in human history, and continues to be the target of thieves every day. They can be forgiven for keeping new ideas secret or understated prior to their patent granting and product announcements.
Apple doesn’t licence its OS and it doesn’t do low margin. If they make a TV, and I hope they, expect the usual premium. That said, given that the current 30″ ACD offers 2560 x 1600, and how much more pixel-dense LCD tech has become how about a 50″ with 6400 x 3600, if that’s the correct proportions? About $3500 with AppleTV + 2TB built in.
Tim Cook seemed adamant on the point that Apple will never TV sets.
Instead, Apple should adopt something like the ZigBee remote protocol in their devices.
a tv thats controlled by any wifi device, iphone, ipad, computer, iremote control, thought, motion like bending over like a wii, and you will able to fold it away using the flexible computer screen thingy
They should buy Vizio
have ATV versions for sell by Apple, and as an addition to their regular line
As an owner of the latest AppleTV variant, I am patiently waiting for that NC server farm to begin delivering a Tivo-like experience with live TV and more importantly, DVR functionality through my aTV. Why not? iTunes could to be re-branded as iMedia or iWorld, and really offer an enormous library of content delivered through subscription or pay-per-view as currently offered.
TV is not powerful enough (limited processor speed and RAM) to provide the functionality required of a modern set top box.
Have your ever tried to add Boxee? It’s a joke.
Wake-up call: the patent is for the REMOTE, not a tv set. All this is , is Apple making its remote more versatile.
Now, the question in my mind is: why? Is this a lure? (buy a mac and you get a universal remote as a bonus). Is it in anticipation of purchasing a company that makes tv sets (a Samsung or a Sony)? Or, will Apple work with another company to allow AppleTV functionality in their tv sets in a deal that is kind of like the iPod+Nike one?
If it is ‘stealth’ then how can it be on the radar?
I’ve been waiting for that… So my old TV has some more years left – I won’t buy a new one until the iTelevision or whatever its name is here…
@ MacBill,
“Poring over patents for clues is the equivalent of staring at the moon for clues.”
No, it’s more like going through a celebrity’s garbage to see what turns their crank.
This all ties in with Apple’s new huge facility in the Carolinas. AppleTV becomes actual TVs, and Apple lets you order shows on demand, with or without commercials, bypassing cable and satellite providers. Also greatly simplifies adding boxes, so you just use your Apple remote and it automatically controls your Blu-Ray, surround sound, etc. all through the AppleTV.
In order to attract a significant number of high-end TV buyers, Apple needs to abandon their unrealistic expectation that everyone purchase and rent all their content from iTunes.
For Apple TV or any other similar product to reach beyond its tiny niche market, Apple needs to provide support for:
1) cable cards
2) Tivo-like DVR functionality
3) more video codecs
and perhaps:
3) Blue-Ray DVD playback
Without these, even die-hard Apple fans like myself will stay away in droves.
Just to add to my comments above, imagine what a flop iPod and iTunes would have been if Apple had introduced these products without support for MP3 files…
Just ask Sony.
@ freediverx…
I agree, but TV isn’t for the discerning high-end audio/video person, it’s for the typical TV viewer and music buyer.
There’s simply not the kind of bandwidth available at this point for true high resolution image and sound streaming.
A Mac mini, with and HDMI adaptor, an external FireWire 800 drive(s) and a dedicated Blu-ray player (which upsamples to 1080p) is the way to go.
@marko
I’m glad to hear someone else state that Boxee just doesn’t work well on TV. I’ve not been satisfied with any of the hacks.
“Apple should somehow license some of the AppleTV goodness to someone like Panasonic or Samsung and let them worry about the razor thin margins on HDTVs.”
No: cost shifting only delays the inevitable. There is either profit created by the whole stream of commerce from design to production to delivery to the customer.
Or there is not.
If there is not, only a fool does it.
If you want to know how cost shifting works, look at the idiocy created by our governments in the shell game that they use to manage their expenses.
Companies at least have bottom lines that put them out of business if they do too much of it. Governments can just print money to try to cover up the cost shifting. For awhile.
But that is another story. I want a television system that can function as a Mac if I want it too, or I want to control my tv totally from my Macbook or iPod Touch or whatever.
So what if they charge a premium for it. My Macbook was more expensive than a junk Windows laptop. All things considered, the Windows laptops were much more expensive from a value point of view.
Magic remote.
I like it.
Multigesture remote.
I have used Macs for 20 years (Mac LC was my first). And I use them in my pharmacy. My employees call me a geek, but I am not.
That said.
It is hard as heck to properly configure a surround sound system with all the goodies. Takes hours to try to wire, program, etc. And then troubleshoot…..
I do hope Apple does come out the the Mac equivalent of a high end home entertainment system. I will buy one. Or two.
This article is nonsense! The patent just shows a display it doesn’t mean it has to be a new Apple product!
What is a worry is that a rumour site missed that the devices are all in – a cloud! Now that’s far more exciting.
The ATV itself doesn’t have to change – rental/subscription TV shows is all it needs.
McD