“‘I’ve finally cracked it!’ Steven P. Jobs, co-founder of Apple, told his biographer, Walter Isaacson. Although Mr. Jobs was referring to Apple’s plans to build a full-fledged television, he was not actually referring to the TV set, which is how the comment has been widely interpreted,” Nick Bilton writes for The New York Times. “Instead, it is becoming clear that Mr. Jobs was talking about Siri, Apple’s new artificial intelligent software on the iPhone 4S.”
“Apple engineers and designers, spurred by Mr. Jobs, have been struggling for years to find a new interface for the television. One of the biggest hurdles, according to people with knowledge of the project, has been replacing the television set’s annoying best friend: the awkward and confusing remote control,” Bilton writes. “Apple would give people a way to choose the content on their television that is as easy as choosing the content on their iPod, iPhone or iPad.”
“It’s the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: ‘Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.’ ‘Play the local news headlines.’ ‘Play some Coldplay music videos.’ Siri does the rest,” Bilton writes. “Several people, all speaking on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons, told me that nothing was actively being built, but — and this was a big but — I was told repeatedly that Apple would eventually make a television. ‘Absolutely, it is a guaranteed product for Apple,’ I was told by one individual. ‘Steve thinks the industry is totally broken.'”
Bilton reports, “The company is now close enough that it could announce the product by late 2012, releasing it to consumers by 2013. It is coming though. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”
Read more in the full article here.
Bilton also reports that someone took his stapler. 😛
Nice!
++1
Siri controlling your set? Maybe if you talk into your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch — and not by projecting your voice command to the microphone in your widescreen display across the room. There is a lot of ambient noise in a TV viewing area. I can imagine watching a playoff game and then Siri reacting to the announcer, crowd noise or couch potatoes … then turns off the TV and puts on Coldplay…
Don’t you think that the TV would be smart enough to know what audio it was playing and cancel that out and only listen for external audio? Kind of like noise canceling headphones .
Yes, but what if multiple people in the room are talking or making noise? The best option is to have the microphone on the remote. Still have to pick up a remote, click a button to activate, but from there you can say “Turn down the volume 10%” or “Schedule to record all of the Wimbledon matches available”.
Imagine the Apple TV remote with one button and built-in microphone to contact Siri. Also the set itself would have a built-in microphone for those quieter households. The TV set audio however would have to phase itself out so that Siri hears only her audience and not the set audio.
I think you would need to speak into the remote OR your iOS device, which would link via AirPlay. A mic on the TV just wouldn’t be practical, particularly on a large screen TV, say 46″ or larger, because the viewers would be far enough away that the mic would pick up too much extraneous noise. It’s not just a show v. person, but cars outside, dogs, kids, rain, wind, spouses, etc. Plus, activation would be tricky if the mic were only in the TV. The remote would be perfect.
Bilton’s red stapler that is.
while i agree that Siri is the perfect interface for an Apple TV, i think pundits who say the biggest stumbling block is content are more on the mark. Apple years ago reinvented the remote with their own simple remote. Leave all the options on screen with minimal buttons on the remote. That alone with the right content deals would have been enough. But, now that we have Siri, yes, Siri is a must-have on the Apple TV. Anything less would be a step backwards. And if your Apple TV is part of the iOS ecosystem – iCloud, multi device syncing… wow.
The mind boggles. I envisage, with a grin, the family battle where the folk sitting on the couch are unable to agree on the channel. Will this develop into a shouting match? Will SIRI be cited in divorce cases?
Will Apple add a feature to enable the entry of a pecking order of voice commands so that Siri knows who is boss and does not suffer a nervous breakdown?
Just how lazy are we becoming? Too tired to lift the remote control? Once we actually had to get up and walk over to the TV to change to one of the three channels available. Then we got rotating remotes and now we have a table of remotes. So now picking up different ones is just too much effort. And we are getting fatter than hell. Shiftless cars, voice activated everything. I am afraid we may soon become like the humans in Wall-e.
…which I had to watch all the way to the end because I could not find the remote, and the kids were out…
:-))
I’m with you, HughB. In fact, last year I bought a manual shift car (used to be called “standard” shift).
What Apple can render obsolete is the UI train wreck you now face when you’re trying to cherry-pick what few shows you might actually want to watch.
I can’t stand driving slush boxes (automatics)
Every vehicle I own is a stick.
They have their place, just not in my garage.
As for the apple remotes and tv’s etc. Siri is a great idea, but apple is forgetting a huge thing…
Amplifier, DVD/bluray player etc.
I have no problem with apple making a tv with the current remote they have, but it would need some changing.
Learning ability so it could power my amp up, turn on/control my bluray player. Etc
Without that, the tv would STILL require multiple remotes.
Some people have just a tv, and some sort of player directly hooked up to it… Many have receivers and a 5-7 speaker system connected as well.
Apple has been very clear on DVD/blueray and other stuff. The future is HD content in the cloud and rent/buy from itunes, so no peripherals. Alternatively, other content can easily be provided through Apps, e.g. Netflix.
I hate my surround system, so I can only hope they will integrate a decent speaker system in their TV set.
Siri, I want to watch the Broncos game……..”I’m sorry, you do not have Direct TV”
I seem to recall mentioning a voice controlled Apple TV here in this forum several years ago, when speculation was running hot on “the next big thing.” I was off the mark then as folks may be today, but I think about this EVERY time I adjust my TV. The Comcast buttons are so freekin’ small and the Vol ^ and channel changer are opposite on my two remotes…so daily when I go to change the volume, I change the channel and end up in Comcast menu hell to get back to where I was on the DVR. With all the features we take for granted (free, subscription, PPV, DVR, on demand, surround sound, over the air HDTV), it will be quite a task for Apple to keep it simple, but I trust that they will in fine fashion, eventually.
Not only that, but doing a title search is painful. It will be much easier to say:
when is X on?
or
set up a series recording of X
For this first iteration, I think the user will still have to take some action to “make Siri listen.” Maybe the remote control, which will still work as a conventional remote control, will have a “Siri button” (or press-hold on a button). After all, that’s how it works on the iPhone 4S.
The microphone can still be on the Apple TV, but there are potentially too many random conversations taking place in a living room, if Siri was constantly listening and trying to determine what was a command and what was not a command.
> Siri key to rumored Apple television
As mentioned previously, the important part of Siri is NOT the voice interaction; it is the AI. Siri will eventually be “key” to everything Apple does going forward.
I imagine it will just be an App from Apple called TV.
So you just buy an Apple Television, download the App, and away you go.
iPhone 4S only, the App has a cool visual remote, and also Siri enabled.
Version 3, they remove the visual part, so it becomes a true voice activated TV.
My $0.02.
Siri, tune in some adult channels… “Aren’t I enough for you?”
NICE!
Great…. rent with your voice.
No thanks.
TV Remote controllers of today will have the same fate as the buggy whip.
iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches ARE REMOTE CONTROLS for AppleTV, HELLO!? . With Siri integrated to rumored iTV……….???? no brainier. Apple WILL get it right the FIRST TIME! Game Over. Bloodbath take 4.
No apple tv not now ,not ever ,profit is to small,pricing to cheap,what would you pay for a 55″ flat panel $2000?$3000? I doubt it .once again we are going to have the iPhone 5 rumors except its a tv now .and when it doesn’t arrive next year ,the pundits will say apple missed the mark .rumors are a bad thing ,no one really knows anything but if it’s said enough the public thinks its true!