“Apple TV has long been regarded by consumers as an afterthought in Apple’s product lineup,” Jared Hill writes for Memeburn. “With the announcement of a new Apple TV on September 9th, it seems the company is finally taking big steps to enhance the appeal and popularity of this television. This is the first new version since 2012, and plenty of features have been added, which make it better than the previous model and open up the potential for future improvements.”
“Central to Apple’s new vision is a focus on the creation and dissemination of dedicated apps for the TV. The old Apple TV had a few apps that were pre-selected and installed on every unit, but the new apps will be collected in an app store, and users will be able to install and delete whichever ones they want,” Hill writes. “The launch of a new operating system, tvOS, will make it easier for third parties to program for the TV. There are already apps for Netflix, Hulu and other popular streaming services. However, there is a distinct lack of inbuilt support for Amazon Instant Video, Spotify and several other high-profile services. Also missing is Apple’s own streaming television offering, which many expect to arrive in 2016.”
“There’s a lot more under the hood of the new Apple TV than there was in the old model,” Hill writes. “The new capabilities of the Apple TV mean that it’s a serious contender to replace multiple technologies including traditional TVs, some game consoles and even certain pieces of home automation hardware.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We cannot wait for what we hope and expect to be an avalanche of Apple TV apps!
SEE ALSO:
Local media streaming app Plex coming to Apple TV – September 14, 2015
What Apple got right in Apple TV’s user interface – and what needs work – September 11, 2015
New Apple TV has the potential to do for television what iPhone did for mobile phones – September 11, 2015
Apple preps to conquer living room with all-new Apple TV – September 11, 2015
Hands-on with the all-new Apple TV – September 10, 2015
Gruber: Apple TV will define how all TVs will work in a few years – September 10, 2015
Here’s how much RAM is inside Apple’s iPhone 6s/Plus, iPad Pro and new Apple TV – September 10, 2015
New Apple TV sounds great, but where’s the 4K? – September 10, 2015
It would be nice to have an App Store on the previous version.
The new ATV wont be much of a radical departure from the previous versions, as its basically a case of too little too late.
Apple is just playing catch up to Roku. Roku is 1000 times more powerful, with about that many as more apps, up to and including adult content.
All Apple can play is the Airplay card, and that doesn’t warrant a 300% price increase over the competition. That’s why I will NEVER buy an Apple TV… total waste of 150 bucks, in my opinion.
I’ve been waiting for a real iPad Pro for years and what do I get, the same iPad, only bigger, with a pen I don’t need and more than twice the price of a regular iPad. I’ll pass.
Just got an iPhone 6 Plus last year. There isn’t a single compelling reason to upgrade to a virtually identical phone. Unless a worthless forcetouch gimmick doesn”t allow you to sleep at night if you don’t have it; or if you fear you’ll lose your gayness unless you upgrade immediately to a rose gold iPhone.
Was shopping for a new Mac, as the 2010 MBP is getting slow. Unfortunately the new Macbook is even slower (imagine that), with a single, obscure port and a 100 buck adapter that’s conveniently not included… thanks Tim, what would we ever do without you.
Thought my next upgradeble Mac Pro would sit underneath my desk next to my trashcan, and not sit on top my desk as a non-upgradeable trashcan. Had to pass on that as well.
Welcome to Tim Cook’s Apple.
Let the rainbow circus commence.
Who replaces a MacBook Pro with a MacBook? Why not replace it with a MacBook Pro?
Hell you don’t think he is serious about any of this do you? Some fanboi who wants to replace his total Apple product line but hates the new ones and the company so much he isn’t going to and just has to let us know by creating a handle specifically to do so, along with a few homophobic insults for good measure. Yep I’m convinced.
This troll sounds familiar: blah blah blah…apple sux, Tim Cook is gay….etc. Proof will be in the sales. They will sell a TON of phones, new IPads and apple Tvs. Why don’t you come back in a month and apologize?
“Roku is 1,000 times more powerful.”
Wow. Dang. Unbelievable advances in technology on the Roku end. Thanks for sharing.
He thinks they have invented a time machine to present content that hasn’t even been made yet apparently.
I believe people misunderstood the term “hobby”. We normally think of it as a fun distraction with toys. However it can also be used as experimenting with new ideas. If you look at some of the things Apple TV did first. They had a OSX operating system that only worked through iTunes before iPhone OS. iPods still did not use OSX. They had streaming through iPhones before AirPlay. They had SSD with little storage designed for streaming and cost reduction before iCloud. It has been their quite public test device. Now it has changed.
This missing streaming service is just some BS to find something to complain about. Something Apple never promised and Apple TV doesn’t need. It has other streaming services and iTunes. Let Apple get Music working before they add another layer. It’s just a distraction for the Apple haters who don’t want to admit Apple has put a death blow to Nintendo and some hurt on XBox and Play Station.
Long regarded by consumers as an afterthought? Maybe those in mental institutions. It seems like it’s been a pretty steady improvement in what it provides over the years to me. If it would have worked with a magic trackpad it would have been much better.
OMG – I told my wife about the new Apple TV and the “rumored $40” for services. She is ready to jump ship, from DirecTV. Although our content costs have gone down though bundling with AT&T, yes yuck – the prospect that we can get what we want for $40 vs $100 (which includes literally 98% of crap we don’t want), is tantalizing. Anyway this conversation was wrapped around my Apple Store gift card I didn’t use to buy the iPhone, when Apple stopped selling AT&T subsidized phones.
It’s too early to say how or if AppleTV will succeed. In six months time anything can change.
Well, that certainly depends on your definition of success. Apple TV has been around many years now, it’s not going to suddenly vanish with this new version.
It all depends on one’s definition of success. One measure is percentage of the market captured. These percentages can be ranked in order of magnitude as well as the relative change over time. What percentage of the available market does AppleTV command and how has the relative change increased or decreased over the past three years?
You expect us to do the work for you when you can get the basic figures reasonably easily with just a little effort rather than spending the time asking the question of others.
Sure home they support folders… otherwise that home menu is gonna get awfully long…
How Apple TV went from afterthought to exciting in one night … Or something ?
Come on MDN!
“Apple TV has long been regarded by consumers as an afterthought in Apple’s product lineup,”
NOT Consumers, Just Bloggers, Critics and Analysts.
What’s concerning me is the slowness Apple is in rolling out this product.
Yes, from day one of the Apple TV, they probably wanted Apps on it. TV channels have their own apps for some time. HBO and Showtime now charge a premium to gain access to those channels through Apple TV and I’m willing to pay for that.
What’s concerning me is channels like CBS and the CW. They’ve had Apps for a while now and now charge $10 for “view anytime”. So basically they’re FORCING you to pay to watch their premium shows, the day they air or the day after and have unlimited access to the library of episodes for those shows. These are still given with commercials and the costs is no cheaper than what HBO or Showtime is charging–long standard premium channels on cable TV and are COMMERCIAL FREE.
ABC has the same kind of app, but charges ZERO for watching their shows. You just have to already have an approved cable provider. So why on Gods green earth would someone pay $10 just for CBS’s total access??? They’re insane!
Ok, off my soap box and back to work…
I will be as happy as a Japanese schoolgirl with a new Picachu doll once I have AppleTV with VLC.
Apple isn’t always first out, but they are usually the first to start their R&D while other’s just slap something together and push it out the door after making a check list.
At $69 a device that streams my own music and movies is pretty handy. I have 5000 photos that it shuffles on screensaver which is somehow endlessly entertaining for everyone. Airplay gets used every other day or so. We do also watch Netflix and Hulu on it. And the Internet radio app offers an amazing array of music.
There is nothing about TV bundles that interests me about a 149+ Apple TV making it worth that much more. Adding Plex,Pandora and such would be great, but I already have those on my $39 Roku and so much more. I dunno.