“Apple’s iPhone is a lot of things: the tech giant’s chief revenue driver; an iconic smartphone; a device that revolutionized an industry,” Chris Ciaccia writes for TheStreet. “Now, it may be poised to revolutionize another industry and be Apple’s secret weapon in the television market.”
“An Apple patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will allow the iPhone to essentially work as a television and smart home remote, allowing users to manage and recall entertainment,” Ciaccia writes. “The patent was first filed five years ago, but was only granted Tuesday, as the company continues to figure out its living room strategy. The inventor on the patent, Alan Cannistraro, is the developer who is responsible for coding the first iTunes Remote app as well.”
Ciaccia writes, “This patent allows the iPhone to not only control a television, change a scene or play a game, but it can also be a home theater remote. In his biography, Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson that there should be no need for several remotes, that one could do the job. ‘There’s no reason you should have all these complicated remote controls,’ Jobs said to Isaacson… As Cook and Apple continue to talk up Apple’s ecosystem, turning the iPhone into a universal remote and allowing it to work with iDevices makes a lot of sense.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]