“In a sign that its television ‘hobby’ has turned into serious business, Apple announced an aggressively-priced new set-top box that takes aim at the heart of the cable TV and DVD rental industries,” Dylan F. Tweney reports for Wired.
Advertisement: The all-new Apple TV is just $99. You know you want one. Free shipping.
“The new Apple TV, which will go on sale at the end of September for $100, is a puny box just 1/4 the size of the previous model. It has an HDMI port, a power supply built in it, an optical audio port, an Ethernet jack, and built-in Wi-Fi,” Tweney reports. “‘It’s silent, cool and tiny,’ said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, showing off the diminutive metallic box… Jobs did not state whether it was running a version of iOS, although the Apple TV’s new interface includes some very iOS-like touches, such as icons that jiggle when you are rearranging them in your Netflix queue.”
“The company will also be providing a feature within iOS 4.2 that customers can use to share videos wirelessly from their iPhones, iPod Touches or iPads,” Tweney reports. “Called ‘AirPlay,’ the feature will let customers display a video from their mobile device, on an Apple TV-connected TV screen, with a single tap. IOS 4.2 [will] be available [in] November.”
“Apple TV customers will be able to rent first-run HD movies for $5, at the same time as they’re released on DVD. That’s a substantial improvement from the past, when there were significant time lags before movies were available through iTunes. Customers will also be able to rent HD TV shows from ABC and Fox for $1, a discount from the previous price of $3. The shows will run without commercial interruption,” Tweney reports. “Netflix customers will also be able to stream video from Netflix via Apple TV, and can also use the device to browse and view YouTube videos and content uploaded to Apple’s MobileMe service. Customers can also stream content from their computers, including photos, videos and music, with no syncing required.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “iWill” for the heads up.]
Sold. I’m definitely buying one right away, and probably another soon thereafter. I may have three in the house (one for every TV) by the new year. Netflix, AirPlay, the form factor, and all for $99… Nice, Apple. Very nice. I’m impressed.
So original Apple TVs aren’t software upgradeable? Are you serious? I have one in every room of my house!!!! WTF APPLE?
MDN word: provide
As in “Provide an upgrade please!”
engadget.com got confirmation: Update: We just got confirmation from Apple that the new Apple TV will be streaming 720p video only (no big surprise there), and that existing Apple TVs won’t be getting an upgrade to the new cloud-based software (again, not a shocker).
After I sold my old appletv, i said i would never buy anything that steve calls a “hobby”. So my question is, is the new appletv still a hobby?
What!!! no blu-ray or recording of over the air content. No keyboard. No Hard Drive. No power brick. I cant wait till Google TV comes out. Nah, just keeding. Who want to buy my 160 gb ATV?
I will definitely be buying at least two or three AppleTVs!
why no analog audio output?
aaaaarrgghhhhh.
otherwise, great improvement.
So can you still buy content from iTunes on your computer? Then stream to ATV? I’m most interested to see if the ATV can stream anything from iTunes, meaning .avi and divx ive tricked into playing in iTunes. If so, I’m totes in and getting rid of my xbox, whose only function is a netflix player (ive been forced into growing up and can no longer justify being a gamer 🙁
Why would anyone expect an equipment “upgrade” price from Apple? Apple doesn’t offer one for any of its other products. What makes the Apple TV any different?
BTW, so much for “iTV”. This rumor stuff, most of which (especially hardware) was off-target, is beyond “silly”. How shocking.
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Is iOS hidden underneath for future revealing? As market heats up they will need to have more going on here. Running apps would have been Killer. I’ll still buy one at 99., how can you not?
Fantastic device, but let’s see: rent a TV show for $1 vs buy a season’s worth on a DVD for about $2 per episode. ABC and Fox are still way too greedy. On the other hand, stream NetFlix. Now there’s a selling point I can get behind.
Moving my content to the Apple TV has always been a bit of a pain. You need to maintain a second set of content and then there is the disc size limitation. To stream it from the Mac is a great improvement.
No 3.5 inch “HD” floppy. WTF! Without HD it’s a no go.
For $99, people will get one just to try it. It’s $50 LESS than the iPod nano. I wasn’t planning on buying an Apple TV, but I’ll probably will get one of these. I’m impressed with this bit of Apple “integration.”
Early adopter of original Apple TV & I LOVE IT! I can “sync” OR “stream” from my iMac to my Apple TV today.
It seems the only difference is the “rental” option & Netflicks rental option…
Will there be a “software / firmware upgrade” for existing Apple TV as there has been in the past?
Yikes. I bet there a lot of pissed off 1st gen Apple TV owners out there. For one, there are no more updates for you. Two, the resell value just took a rapid nosedive. At least the cost to buy in to the newer box dropped 66%.
—
For me, it’s basically a Netflix player and digital streamer that still doesn’t play Blu-Ray. A nice Blu-Ray player handles all of those fronts, not just 2 out of 3.
Tempted, but it’s still a …. Pass.
I have been using my three 1st gen ATVs for more than a couple of years. Why would I be pissed off? They still work, they still do what I want, and I will still likely get a couple of these. I’m not pissed off, any more thatn I am over evolving iPods and iPhones.
@Mo: streaming was already available. Not new. More capabilities, but streaming is not one of them.
It is really an other era coming in. New Apple TV is around, when googleTV in the market as well there’s gonna be a hype of competition and market chaos. Google cannot beat Apple whatsoever, but TV has no options but to get along with the new post-pc era. It’s just so impossible to resist changes. If they dont get along with it, some video rental company will do and use it as a new channel for renting videos!
Hey
What about owners of the Now older Apple TV. Are we left to die
out here
>cogitoergomac wrote: I have been using my three 1st gen ATVs for more than a couple of years. Why would I be pissed off?
It’s great that you got a lot of use out of your $299 x 3 plus tax Apple TVs. Three years is a long time. It would suck if you bought an Apple TV recently though. Or, if you had any interest in upgrading and wanted to get a nice percentage of your near-$1000 purchase back.
I imagine it might be a hard sell to get $99 for an old Apple TV now that new one is soon to be out. Good luck with that.
But of course, you sound happy and not defensive at all with your older near-$1000 Apple TVs that won’t be getting the software upgrade.
The cost for content is just too expensive. If you rent thirty movies or a hundred TV show you should get the box for free
The hardware architecture of the new AppleTV is so different from that of the old one that the lack of a software update is not a surprise. Disappointing, but not surprising.
To the bitter owners of previous gens of the ATV – what do you expect? Every investment in any realm of technology is always at risk of being obsolete in an instant. And what is Apple supposed to do? Tell you not to buy one because 6 months from now a new version will be out? If you’d had your ear to the ground, you would have heard the ATV talk going on for quite some time and even without the talk, Apple has a pattern of upgrades, innovation, etc. So, if you bought an older ATV model in the last couple of months, then it is your own fault for ignoring the talk and history – and it is your choice to invest in technology when you know good and well that it has an ever-evolving, flowing existence. As for upgrades, that is also a reality of technology. Not everything you buy in this realm is upgradable for the length of your lifetime. And thankfully if you actually want progress.
If you want tech that seemingly lasts forever and is never going to be victimized by upgrades, go buy a typewriter. Otherwise deal with the realities of life a little more maturely.
I own a first gen Apple TV too. As with most tech, I didn’t expect that Apple would upgrade it with some new tech and software on an indefinite basis. I’m happy with it. I’m slightly disappointed that the new one won’t have apps (at least right away), but am very happy it’s 99 dollars and will get one for a different TV