Apple’s iTV - What Would An Apple TV Look Like?

Before he passed away, Steve Jobs claimed to have "finally cracked it." Quoted in Walter Isaacson's recent biography, Jobs was refer­ring to a potential Apple TV. The line sparked a frenzy of speculation about a new Apple TV that would be an actual television set instead of just a set-top box. In recent interviews, Tim Cook all but veri­fied that Apple is working on a TV set. "When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years. It's an area of intense interest. I can't say more than that."

Apple’s iTV

I'm not going to waste your time by regurgitating all the crazy rumors about the Apple TV. And rather than pretending that I have any idea what the new Apple TV will be like, I have decided to make a wish list of features I hope to see in the future Apple TV.

The current state of Apple TV

To understand what the Apple TV could be like, it helps to un­derstand the current incarnation of Apple TV. In my opinion, the Apple TV is one of the least appreciated and least understood Apple products. I love my Apple TV and use it every day.

In my opinion, the Apple TV is one of the least appreciated and least understood Apple products.

The current Apple TV costs $99, and is a small black box about the size of a hockey puck that plugs into the back of your TV. Apple TV allows you to rent and buy movies and TV shows by streaming them over the Internet to your TV. The great thing about Apple TV is that it allows you to never have to go to the video store again to rent a movie. Apple TV also comes with several popular third-party apps built in, including Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. The integration makes Apple TV one of the easiest ways to watch videos.

What separates Apple TV from its competitors is how well it integrates with the rest of the Apple ecosystem. Using Airplay, for example, you can easily stream music, videos, or photos from an Apple device onto your Apple TV. Many third-party iPhone and iPad apps integrate with Apple TV as well. Some good examples are TED (free, app2.me/3154), which lets you stream TED talks from your phone to your TV, and Real Racing 2 ($4.99, app2.me/3325), which lets you mirror races to your TV and compete against friends. The latest Mac OS, Mountain Lion, also allows you to screen share from your Mac. At the iPhone Life office, we use an Apple TV instead of a projector for presentations and Skype conference calls.

Some good examples are TED (free, app2.me/3154), which lets you stream TED talks from your phone to your TV, and Real Racing 2 ($4.99, app2.me/3325), which lets you mirror races to your TV and compete against friends.

Wishing upon an Apple

Apple TV is a powerful tool, but there is still a lot Apple could do to make it even better. Here are few things that I am hoping for in a future, more full-featured Apple TV.

Improved Airplay

While the integration with other Apple products is what makes Apple TV powerful, there is still room for improvement. Stream­ing over Airplay is peppered with frequent pauses and crashes. It doesn't hold up to Apple's "it just works" mission. In order for Apple TV to take the next step forward, Airplay needs to be much more stable and reliable.

Third-Party App Store

Apple TV reminds me a little bit of the original iPhone. The built-in apps are great, but it is a closed system. There is no way to add functionality through third-party apps. Surprisingly, not only are many of the key entertainment apps, such as Amazon Instant Video and HBO GO, not included on Apple TV, but the iOS apps are not even compatible. Having an Apple TV App Store would allow us to download any video-playing app we want. There is also the potential of using Apple TV as a video game console by creating gaming apps.

The most exciting aspect of third-party apps is that they would allow developers to find new ways to use Apple TV. When the iPhone came out, I don't think anybody anticipated the wide range of uses we see today. The true potential of the iPhone unfolded when third-party developers stepped in. I think that allowing third-party apps on Apple TV will have a similar effect. There's no telling how the television could evolve.

Fixing Cable TV

In order for Apple to truly revolutionize the TV industry, it will have to find a way to fix cable television. The cable and satellite TV business models are relics of an era during which transmitting information (in this case, TV shows) was incredibly complicated. Back then, whoever could transmit the informa­tion owned the medium. With the growing prominence of high-­speed Internet, we no longer need complex cable and satellite systems to watch TV - we can simply stream it over the Inter­net. Yet, we are all still paying an expensive middle man (cable and satellite providers) for an unnecessary service.

Most people spend hundreds of dollars a month for access to thousands of channels, and they end up watching only a few shows. The best way to fix cable television is to offer a subscription to an individual channel, or even an individual show, in addition to a subscription to a bundle of channels. This would allow people to pick and choose their channels and shows a la carte, and only pay for what they actually watch. Because Apple makes their money from hardware sales, they would be able take a smaller percentage of sales than the cable providers do, making it a financially feasible model for the TV networks as well. This model would also offer a lot more flexibility in terms of how and when people view their shows. People could pay a premium to avoid commercials, and TV shows could be available on demand instead of at a certain time.

Improved User Interface

In the high-speed world of consumer electronics, the remote control is a relatively primitive tool. Nikola Tesla developed one of the earliest versions of the remote control in 1898, and we've been using remotes with TVs since the 1950s. Compared to the easy-to-use interface of Apple's products, the modern TV user interface (Ul) is painfully bad. While the current Apple TV has a better interface, it still relies on a remote control, so the Ul has plenty of room for improvement. Some speculation suggests that Apple will replace the remote control with an iOS app that could be used from the iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad. Others have specu­lated that Siri will control the Apple TV. Both of these options have potential, and I am excited to see how Apple uses their expertise in designing operating systems to improve the TV interface.

Using Siri On iPhone 4S To Control & Navigate Plex On Apple TV 

The Next Frontier of Smart

In recent years, Apple has talked a lot about the post-PC revo­lution. This revolution is not about the death of the computer (which will always have a critical role in our lives), but about the rise of other "smart" devices. From weight scales to home thermostats to washers and dryers, everything around us is becoming smarter. The TV is the largest screen in the house, and there is no reason why it can't have all the advanced func­tionality of a tablet or a computer. This type of disruption is in Apple's DNA. Let’s hope Apple has the creativity to do it right.