“What do people imagine will happen to the Apple TV? They imagine it will be renamed the iTV and run iOS, the same OS that runs the iPad, the iPhone and the iPod touch,” Seibold writes. “The benefits of such a change are immediately obvious. Apple will sell more apps, people already know how to use iOS so there is no learning curve and Apple can make everything more integrated. The idea is perfection encapsulated, a no brainer, the easiest move in the world, right?”
Seibold writes, “How do you use any of the apps? How do you fire up, say, the Weather app? In iOS you touch it. Chances are your TV doesn’t have a touch sensitive screen. So you can’t launch the app by touching it… In short, expecting Apple to come up with some kludge to make a remote act like your finger on your non-touch screen TV is too much to ask.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Devil’s Advocate disclaimer: Apple iTV requires Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch or optional Apple iTV Multi-Touch Remote for iTunes App Store app use. iTV works best with iPad, but also works well with an iPhone, iPod touch or Apple iTV Multi-Touch Remote (sold separately).
@ jax44
Even with simple apps, you have to touch on-screen “things” to select the MDN article you want to read, go “Back,” etc. The only way to know what you are touching is to look at your “remote control.” The more complex the app, the more you need to look down at that screen. When used normally, you are already constantly looking at your iDevice screen and simply touch it. As I commented in an earlier post, having to look back and forth from the TV screen (six feet away) to your iDevice screen (12 inches away) would be really annoying, and you would simple stop using your TV screen to see what is already on your iDevice screen.
The only way it may work for some purposes is to make the iDevice screen into a blank tracking surface, one you do not need to look at to use. You can create special iTV apps that are controlled by motion and “gestures” on that tracking surface. You keep your eyes on the TV screen and move your fingers on the tracking surface without having look down to touch any particular spot. Then, there is also no need to transit a huge amount of data over the wireless network, to constantly mirror what’s on the iDevice screen to the TV’s screen.
Perhaps the dedicated remote control that comes with the iTV will even have a built-in tracking surface, for use with whatever new interface Apple is designing for iTV.
The new nanos will also have remote-control capabilities…
makes you wonder if Apple Tv will stay for now and they will add iTV
Why is the writer of this article assuming that iTV apps will be the same as the iOS apps? It is more likely that iTV apps will use a different interface, be it with the Apple Remote or a Wiimote-like device (Apple has the patent for something like this).
Uh, duh. Apple already showed us how to use the new iTV when they quietly came out with the Magic Trackpad and let us think it was only for macs when all along it was for the iTV