The promise of an Apple TV (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Planned leak, will be interesting to see if this trial balloon has lift:http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/03/apple-wants-its-own-path-on-comcast-network-for-video-service-wsj-says/

 

[DaveF]

Interesting. I'm thinking if switching from FIOS to comcast next year when my contract is up. Comcast has TiVo integration, a netflix deal, and maybe this appletv service.

 

[Sam Posten]

Crazy talk.

 

[DaveF]

I'm also tired of my bandwidth crashing at prime time. The reality of Fios is not as great as the dream

 

[Sam Posten]

If all you judge it by is Youtube and Netflix, yeah. Otherwise it beats em hands down at every bandwidth level.And that is -politics- not tech.And that's not even considering how much Comcast stinks as a company, not that the pirates at Verizon are saints either...

 

[DaveF]

Fios had the better 2 yr deal when I signed up (and Comcast, whch I had at the apartment, did nothing for customer retention). But when my Fios contract ends, I think pricing will be pretty similar.The issue with YouTube and Netlifx is that is where I notice that I'm not getting the 15 Mbps I'm paying for, at 9pm on a weekday. Facebook and email and HTF...I can do that fine with the worst of connections. But then I tell the Tivo to download "The Good Wife" in HD from Amazon and it takes 3 hours because Fios has a bandwidth logjam.Will Comcast really be any better? Don't know. (That's a whole other issue that grinds my gears: I can't actually do comparative shopping for an ISP.) I'm told by a nieghbor it has no problems in primetime (who works for NBC and gets Comcast uber package free, natch).But maybe Comcast is better. And if I can get the Tivo integration in my area...this starts to feel like it's worth trying.As for consumer experience: Verizon called and sold me the next better bandwidth package for only $5/mo. Bought it. My next bill went up by $15. WTF? Called and they said I'm not eligible for the $5/mo upgrade, so they dropped my package discount, raised my price, and gave me the faster bandwitdh. You morons are the ones who sold me the discoiunt?!?! Oh, they say, the marketing/sales depatment doesn't know anything about billing...so it's on me to know if Verizons sales dept can actually sell me what they're selling. Idiots.Comcast could be worse. But they'd have to work at it.I'm not leaping at the prospect to change ISPs. It's like shopping for life insurance. But I'm so unimpressed by the reality of FIOS, that I have to consider it for next year.

 

[Sam Posten]

Keep hope alive!
http://time.com/91918/apple-hdtv/

 

[DaveF]

They're all wrong.

Apple is making a 65" smartwatch. That measures your pulse when you change channels.

You heard it here first, folks.

 

[Sam Posten]

Two new takes:http://stratechery.com/2014/apple-tv-might-disrupt-microsoft-sony/http://bigzaphod.tumblr.com/post/87823968514/apples-game

Apple now has everything they need to disrupt the game console industry in a way that none of them see coming. I predict that we’ll see a new AppleTV update (and hardware) this fall along with a new app extension type for AirPlay. AirPlay will become about more than just streaming video to your AppleTV - instead that’ll simply be one of the things you can do with it. Apps (mostly games, I suspect) will be able to bundle an AirPlay extension inside - just like how apps can now bundle photo editing or sharing extensions as of iOS 8.

But -especially- this:

If that customer buys an iPhone or iPad later, all the games they purchased on their AppleTV would also work on their shiny new iPhone or iPad because Apple would require all games to support normal touch-only controls - just as they have always done even for apps that support the existing game controller APIs. This would be a huge win for Apple, of course, but also for customers - buy the game once and it’s always yours on any device no matter how you want to experience it. There would be no AppleTV-exclusive games in the AppleTV Store - only normal touch-enabled iOS games that happen to also bundle an AirPlay extension. No fragmentation.

We've pondered similar things before but this kinda seals it for me, if and when a real big screen app store comes about you can bet that all prior phone apps will work in some way on it and can be -optimized- for the experience by developers very quickly. Anything short of that is madness. It's one iOS app store.

 

[DaveF]

AppleTV as a games console has been there for Apple to sell since AirPlay. Even more so with ios7 and game controller support. Ios8 and Metal, all the more. But they need a controller, an real Apple provided high quality controller. And an updated appleTV with A7 or newer.Apple has a weird relationship with games. They promote them at WWDC. But they don't really seem to "get" games or really want them. At least under Jobs, it seems a begrudging acceptance from people who think of gaming as "felt poker tables" and "backgammon". . Maybe Metal demonstrates a fuller grasp of computer gaming, under Cook leadership?So I don't really think it's coming. I don't think Apple wants to confuse their hardware lineup with the neccessary controller to really make a serious foray into living room console gaming.

 

[Sam Posten]

I definitely think Jobs warmed to gaming with iPhone and even more so with iPad. I think Apple 'gets' gaming today, at least casual gaming, and considers it a force multiplier. Whereas pron used to drive format adoption in the past I think gaming and social does it even moreso today.

 

[DaveF]

I definitely think Jobs warmed to gaming with iPhone and even more so with iPad. I think Apple 'gets' gaming today, at least casual gaming, and considers it a force multiplier. Whereas pron used to drive format adoption in the past I think gaming and social does it even moreso today.

Fully agree about "getting" it as a "force multiplier". Not sure they get gaming as gaming. Not the way that Nintendo gets it, or Valve or Microsoft. The ugly and useless Game Center continue to indicate that to me. Last year's Keynote focus on remote-controlled cars showed that.

I look forward to being shown wrong. "Gaming" is there for Apple's taking. We're all hoping they grab it.

 

[Sam Posten]

That space station is operational!http://blog.streamingmedia.com/2014/07/apples-cdn-now-live.html

 

[DaveF]

Not til next year?http://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/30/apple-tv-launch-delayed/

 

[Sam Posten]

If ever.

 

[Sam Posten]

Buzzfeed (!) says that it's real and this June is the launch, with Siri and Apps:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/new-apple-tv-set-top-will-debut-this-summer-with-app-store-s#.ehVjV1dwQ

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/20/new-apple-tv/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi


Game focused.


It's buzzfeed tho, so hyyyyuge grains of salt. Pasckowski is usually a sane voice tho....

 

[Mike Frezon]

YouTube may stop working on some Apple TVs with older iOSs.

 

[Sam Posten]

http://9to5mac.com/2015/05/18/apple-readies-first-significant-apple-watch-updates-tvkit-sdk-for-apple-tv/

 

[Sam Posten]

WSJ says no actual panel based TVs. I'm cool with that, it's smart.


Gene Munster is about to commit Hara Kiri tho....

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/05/19/gene-munster-apple-television-set/

 

[Sam Posten]

Word:

Apple TV has to win on merit.

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/08/21/parks-associates-apple-tv