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Why Apple Ditched Its Plan To Build a Television
Apple has been rumored to be developing their own line of HDTVs for years, but a new report from the Wall Street Journal (paywalled) says while those plans did exist, they've been abandoned. Apple began pondering the idea of jumping into the television market roughly a decade ago, as iTunes started hosting video content. The AppleTV made a foray into living rooms in 2007, and other devices reached the prototype stage. The company continued to do research and work on their ideas, but eventually gave up more than a year ago.
Apple had searched for breakthrough features to justify building an Apple-branded television set, those people said. In addition to an ultra-high-definition display, Apple considered adding sensor-equipped cameras so viewers could make video calls through the set, they said. Ultimately, though, Apple executives didn't consider any of those features compelling enough to enter the highly competitive television market, led by Samsung Electronics Co. Apple typically likes to enter a new product area with innovative technology and easier-to-use software.
Yea, personally I think a TV is a lot more compelling than a half-assed watch.
Because they have half a clue ...
Apple doesn't enter a market unless they see the ability to innovate and change it. They aren't always first movers, but they DO bring innovation and of course profits to any segment they enter.
The magic is in saying "NO" to doing things that don't make sense... entering a crowded, unimaginative, razor-thin margin, mature TV market doesn't make sense for Apple. That's why they said no.... No more, no less.
They could have added $1000 to the price. That's always a popular Apple feature.
I think that within 20 years the Hololens concepts presented by MS will be reality (http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us).
Initially it won't be a fashion statement but as the tech gets better it will become a standard in society (who knows how long that could take). After all the ability to connect your virtual world with the real world has been the focus of technology for a long time.
I have a Smart TV but I don't use any of the functionality of it. I have separate devices that I can use to do the exact same functions and I can replace them easily for a small amount of money if I want new/different features.
For an example of why I do this, there's how google changed their YouTube API so a bunch of older devices no longer work with it. Watch YouTube on a TV? Replace the entire TV. Watch it off a Chromecast and want to replace it? $35
You realize you just said "You can microsoft on your microsoft with anyone who has microsoft" in defense to Apple apple-ing only with Apple
Skype is available on all platforms last I checked. Maybe that's what he meant by Skype.
Macintosh TV: Introduced Oct1993, died Feb 1994. We hardly knew ye... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...
HA HA! Seriously, we have make your own sandwich day at work, so FU!
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
And iTunes is available on Windows also - just sayin'
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
a smart TV with a responsive UI that isn't a nightmare to navigate and actually gets updates after you buy it.
Although at this point, all I want from a TV anymore is a display with a bunch of inputs, no speakers, no network connectivity, no tuner and no smart features. I haven't used the audio, tuner or smart features on my current Panasonic Viera in years, all it does is display whatever source is selected on the receiver, all the rest of those "features" were a waste of money.
I thought I read somewhere that they were making an 8K TV/monitor. I guess that's not enough of a breakthrough though.
But messages and facetime are both not, which would be the relevant products here.
I have a Rolex. I've seen an Apple Watch. They're not competing...
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
If Apple really wants to grow their business, they can start by making their existing product line more manageable in a large enterprise. Corporations aren't going to ditch workstations in favor of tablets or watches. They need to get real work done. Microsoft's iron grip via Office is weakening, and Apple has a real chance to grow their business by providing something that users have been wanting for years. They're about tapped out on consumer discretionary spending; they need to make inroads on the professional side. They have been sucked into a IoT mania.
I bought and use an Apple TV all the time. It's how my kids watch Netflix, and how we rent movies 99% of the time. I love it. I would never buy an Apple television, though, because 1) I like my Vizio, 2) I don't want to have to upgrade my display just because an input device broke or became obsolete, and 3) there literally zero advantage to that arrangement instead of an external box connected via HDMI.
Lots of devices have built-in screens and it makes sense for them. I wouldn't buy a separate screen for a display-less laptop, for instance; making CPU + display into a single unit is perfectly reasonable. There is no reason at all for that to be true in the living room, though. How many sizes should they make? Does everyone get a 60" Apple Television even if they have a tiny living room, or will I be squinting at a 30" Apple Television from across the room? Which pixel technology will they choose? Eh, no thanks. Component systems still have their place, and the living room entertainment system is probably the perfect example of that.
I love my cheap little Apple TV and will probably upgrade it to the next model when that comes out. I don't love it so much that I'd throw out a perfectly usable display panel as part of the deal.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
For many the TV you buy is a complicated matter, and for many others there's going to be price issues. An Apple built TV would just be super expensive and Apple would have to quit making the AppleTV so people would be forced to buy their Apple built TV.
That would never make any sense. The AppleTV is a gateway to iTunes movies and rentals, and all those people who purchased content on them would go ballistic if they were suddenly told they have to buy a Apple built TV if they wanted to continue to watch their purchased content on a TV.
Apple can make a difference in DVR's and a over the top tv service, and that should be their focus in this space.
If Apple can come up with a solution to this, it will own the nation's living rooms no matter how much its approach may cost. As it stands now every TV set has its own complex remote, which controls the receiver itself and selects your chosen device inputs into it. Each DVD player, PVR, game console and streaming box you attach to the set has its own remote, with its own different control interface that you have to mentally readapt to whenever you use the TV remote to select that device as the input. In addition to these and worst of all is the remote that controls your cable box, with its F-35 cockpit array of function buttons that cover every feature that any cable provider using the box might want to support. Each cable company allows some subset of these functions, leaving your cable remote with a number of "forbidden" buttons that if pressed accidentally will send your entertainment system into a region of hyperspace that only the cable company CSR can retrieve you from.
Then there is the content mess. No cable company online guide system works well enough for you to easily figure out what time CSI: Ramadi is on for your location, especially if you are not in a Major Urban Market. The Internet TV guides will get you the right night of the week eventually, but does it know you're on Arizona time, or is it an hour off this time of year? And since you're edging into cord cutting you're aware that you can stream last Wednesday's missed episode from the network site, if you're lucky enough that its Verify Your Provider logon actually includes your cable company in the list of five that it accepts. So you thought you had a right to view the program because it's over-the-air or on your cable tier?
Apple, do whatever it takes to bring some sanity to this interface, hopefully before the next time my mother accidentally lays a book down on her cable remote and loses contact with all her favorites for a week.
K, I'm a big watch geek (I own several dozen watches; from timex marathon to gold Rolex datejust II) and I feel qualified to speak to this - "why offer the edition watches starting at $10k?".
This is apple signaling that they are serious players in the watch space, not just the smart-watch space. This matters because you want a serious presence at Baselworld, articles in "Watchtime" magazine, etc. That is the pathway to get your watches into boardrooms, 19th hole private clubs, and other elite status locals. And they display well, so even if no elite watch buyers opt in, they are still useful marketing tools.We'll see how it plays out, but I think this was actually a smart move by Apple.
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
"We realized even Appleheads won't buy a TV that only lets them watch programs through the iTunes store, and we can't figure out how to insert ads in to your cable feed."
... If Apple would make a relatively affordable TV on which I could buy and play movies via iTunes, I'd buy it.
I'm sick and tired of all the existing smart TV's; the last thing they are it's smart
-- Samsung 65" smart TV owner
Most TVs are so big these days that there's a ton of real estate on the back of them for hanging accessories, but other than the VESA mounting bracket standard(s) there isn't a standard for mounting STBs.
Some of the larger STBs (like DVRs with spinning rust) maybe wouldn't be practical rear mounted due to weight, but the smaller boxes like Apple TV or Roku would.
IR transmission for remotes might be an issue, but so many of these boxes can be controlled via wifi that it wouldn't be an issue.
It would also be useful for NUC type PCs where in many use cases IR isn't even a factor.
Not everyone lives in a gigantic American-style house.
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