The Apple Beat: Is Apple TV ready for primetime?

 

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

A new voice-control interface powered by Siri would be a killer feature, specially for an Apple TV priced in the US $149 range. But Apple will need to step up its game to make the device a true platform. So, aside from iTunes movies and TV shows on demand, we can expect the advent of iOS apps and games to come to Apple TV.

In a few days, we will know what Apple plans on revealing as it takes over the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. The September 9 event is guaranteed to involve the next generation iPhone as well as iOS 9 and possibly some considerable Apple Watch and watchOS 2.0 news, since it has been a year since we first saw Apple’s wearable.

Rumors are getting frenzied right now, as they always do before a huge Apple Event. Since, there haven’t been any significant leaks or spoilers as to what we will see (smartphone case prototypes don’t count), blogs and even established news agencies are scrambling by playing guessing games and giving time to any rumour that seems to make sense (like new colours for Apple Watch Sport straps... ).

A deluge of products during a single event sounds unlikely, Apple likes to take its time to unveil every aspect of a product, and iPhones are the company’s most important products right now with current iPhone 6 models converting a lot of Android users just before the yearly update.

Apple is going to own the news cycle for the next week, and not just for tech outlets, but even primetime news. Some of the rumours are intriguing (12-inch iPad Pro and revised iPad mini), 21-inch iMacs with 4K displays.

But all of these pale in comparison with Apple TV expectations. Long avowed as Apple’s ‘hobby’, Apple TV has in the past been an affordable and easy gateway into iTunes for accessing and renting movies, music and using apps like Netflix, HBO Now,  MLB.com and other subscription based service.

Apple TV Evolution is in order

This is a 1990's precursor to the Apple TV, which shows that TV has always been consideration for Apple

Apple TV has always been waved off as a ‘hobby’ by Apple executives, even if it has made the company some serious money (US $1 billion in 2013), and that’s with antiquated hardware dating back to 2012.

Apple did refresh the user interface and improved some things here and there, but the Apple TV is hobbling along with an iPhone 4s-era Apple A5 processor.

Meanwhile, the game has changed all around. You have Roku aggressively pumping out models which are smaller, cheaper, and offer more features (including gaming and Wii-like remote control).  Google’s also been pursuing the set-top box market with its poorly received Nexus Player, even if its Chromecast HDMI-dongle is far more popular and accessible.

Even Amazon seems to be edging into the market with its Fire TV. It’s Apple’s time to make a move and reclaim this space. We also have the NVIDIA Shield Android player and many cross-function gaming slash entertainment devices.

Despite this, Apple TV has recently become the leading set-top box for paid TV streaming, surpassing Roku, Xbox, and PlayStation, according to data compiled by Adobe Digital Index. 

Siri steps in

 

We’re at a crossroads in content consumption. Traditional radio has been replaced by streaming services. This is something that Apple has already addressed with Apple Music, which handles iTunes libraries, has a streaming music service and also a live 24-hour Internet radio station.

Apple Music is a huge product offering and one that hasn’t gone as smoothly as Apple would have liked, a lot of this comes from the fact it is still inextricably contained within iTunes.

iTunes, as a piece of software, was useful and necessary 8-10 years ago. It worked great for managing music on iPods and even extending this functionality for iPhones and iPads, but it has since become bloated and unwieldy. Many analysts, including myself, want Apple Music as a standalone app and service.

For a new Apple TV, it seems likely that Apple will use new forms of user interface and interaction. The previous (and current) Apple TV interface with the included remote control, is a little bit clunky and not as smooth as what competitors have to offer.

If a new Apple TV running iOS 9 will be announced, then we can expect it to feature Siri heavily as a means of control. The best way to do this would be to have a microphone in the remote and with Siri’s “proactive” feature which brings contextual awareness and increased intelligence to search results. So simply saying, “hey Siri, play the next episode of House of Cards,” should be enough for Apple TV to open the Netflix app and start playing House of Cards from where you left off.

Since Siri has proven to work well as a system-level voice assistant (meaning, you can actually use Siri to enable settings and preferences in iOS devices). Siri can be used to slice through the bloated and multi-step remote control bottleneck we experience controlling multiple devices attached to our TVs.

Best of all, you could control Siri from a remote, a nearby iPhone, iPad or even an Apple Watch thanks to Handoff technology.

A new voice-control interface powered by Siri would be a killer feature, specially for an Apple TV priced in the US $149 range. But Apple will need to step up its game to make the device a true platform. So, aside from iTunes movies and TV shows on demand, we can expect the advent of iOS apps and games to come to Apple TV. With an A8 or A9 processor, Metal and improved graphics capabilities, playing more demanding iOS games on a larger HDTV should be a compelling-enough reason, at least for existing iOS users who already own a library of games, to jump on new Apple TV hardware.

Apple as a content company

“If you want something done right, do it yourself.” A lot of the strength of Netflix is in its original programming. So, will Apple create its own shows and Apple TV exclusives? It very well can.

Apple makes its own advertisements in house, it has been doing so for a while now. It can put together complex events like iTunes Festival and it has a leg up on streaming live events. So hiring a studio to create shows or even full-length movies is not out of the realm of possibility.

Apple also has industry clout. Not just because of Disney and Pixar’s close association but because it is big enough to transform TV like it transformed the music industry. I know Apple TV refresh has long been rumoured and many blame networks and content creators for slowing down negotiations. Well, Apple is big enough to say, “screw it, we will make our own shows.”

So, updated Apple TV hardware and a new interface would be revolutionary. But Apple’s business is also about creating platforms and keeping users loyal, this will be the challenge of re-launching Apple TV at scale.

Stay tuned for special reports from San Francisco starting September 9, I will be covering all the announcements at the Apple Special Event in the Civic Centre.