- Feb 14, 2004
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http://www.zdnet.com/tim-cook-on-tvs-the-interface-is-terrible-i-mean-its-awful-7000033667/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMo8Oz9jsQ
I agree with the author...what kind of television is he using?! Stuck in the 70's? Let's take a look at today's technology:
1. Inexpensive, large, energy-efficient, ultra-thin flatscreen televisions (50" LED for as low as $399 these days) & projectors (under $600 for a tiny HD LED projector with a 10-year bulb life)
2. Variety of fun gaming consoles & computers, including all kinds of motion controls like Kinect & Wii
3. Tons of set-top boxes (Android-based, Roku, Amazon, Popcorn Hour, WDTV, etc.)
4. Universal remotes, including Logitech's Harmony line, which even offers smartphone control
5. Roku lets you add a zillion channels such as Plex, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, Redbox, etc.
6. DVR's with live channel listings, including remote viewing on your tablet, remotely setting up shows to record, browsing from your smartphone, etc.
7. Voice search on the Amazon FireTV
Then you have the AppleTV. No games. Can't add apps. No voice search. No 4K. Who exactly is stuck in the seventies here?!
I suspect Apple hasn't made much progress on the TV front because they want to control TV like they control music, but between the Hollywood & Cable empires, they've probably been shot down time after time. They took over the music industry, and they're in the process of taking over the payments industry, so it will be interesting to see how they make out in the future with movies & TV shows with companies like Netflix & Amazon producing their own (highly respected) shows these days.
Movies are a bit of a different animal because you can easily burn through $100 million dollars on a big-budget movie, and you rely on a lot of advertising & merchandising to fund it, versus say music where you can basically write a song for free & make money off it through airplay advertising on the radio. And to be fair, even Microsoft hasn't landed a solid IPTV deal in the states, so it's not like anyone else is winning over the market with their digital technologies.
I do agree that the TV interface could use some work, but they are getting better. $129 gets you a Logitech Harmony IR blaster, simple physical remote, and smartphone remote app. Plenty of other universal remotes out there as well. A lot of things can be controlled through a surround-sound receiver via CEC (plus Bluetooth, Airplay, etc. built-in) these days. The only thing I have plugged into my home TV's is a Roku box...I use Netflix & Amazon for streaming, VUDU for rentals or purchases, and Plex for LAN streaming of my own movies (plus a few other misc apps).
Anyway, imo Apple had their chance & blew it, just like the iWatch. I think if they had come out with the iWatch before stuff like the FitBit existed, that would have been amazing...pedometer, GPS tracking, GPS directions, heartrate monitor, sleep tracking, movement tracking, and so on. But that's old hat now, just like how the Roku has been around for awhile, lets you add your own apps, etc. Or maybe if they had integrated a smarthome controller like the Wink Hub into the Apple TV (or Airport Extreme wireless router) or something.
But I don't really see Apple making a dedicated TV, or integrating an AppleTV box into a television (that would get outdated quickly), or doing much other than opening up the iOS for ATV platform to add some third-party apps & games. It'd be cool if they did that, because a lot of the stuff I want to play are just basic fun games that can be thrown up on the TV for kids, without having to get a dedicated gaming console for hundreds of dollars.
Anyway, just opening it up for discussion since Cook had some interesting remarks on Apple & the TV platform recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMo8Oz9jsQ
I agree with the author...what kind of television is he using?! Stuck in the 70's? Let's take a look at today's technology:
1. Inexpensive, large, energy-efficient, ultra-thin flatscreen televisions (50" LED for as low as $399 these days) & projectors (under $600 for a tiny HD LED projector with a 10-year bulb life)
2. Variety of fun gaming consoles & computers, including all kinds of motion controls like Kinect & Wii
3. Tons of set-top boxes (Android-based, Roku, Amazon, Popcorn Hour, WDTV, etc.)
4. Universal remotes, including Logitech's Harmony line, which even offers smartphone control
5. Roku lets you add a zillion channels such as Plex, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, Redbox, etc.
6. DVR's with live channel listings, including remote viewing on your tablet, remotely setting up shows to record, browsing from your smartphone, etc.
7. Voice search on the Amazon FireTV
Then you have the AppleTV. No games. Can't add apps. No voice search. No 4K. Who exactly is stuck in the seventies here?!
I suspect Apple hasn't made much progress on the TV front because they want to control TV like they control music, but between the Hollywood & Cable empires, they've probably been shot down time after time. They took over the music industry, and they're in the process of taking over the payments industry, so it will be interesting to see how they make out in the future with movies & TV shows with companies like Netflix & Amazon producing their own (highly respected) shows these days.
Movies are a bit of a different animal because you can easily burn through $100 million dollars on a big-budget movie, and you rely on a lot of advertising & merchandising to fund it, versus say music where you can basically write a song for free & make money off it through airplay advertising on the radio. And to be fair, even Microsoft hasn't landed a solid IPTV deal in the states, so it's not like anyone else is winning over the market with their digital technologies.
I do agree that the TV interface could use some work, but they are getting better. $129 gets you a Logitech Harmony IR blaster, simple physical remote, and smartphone remote app. Plenty of other universal remotes out there as well. A lot of things can be controlled through a surround-sound receiver via CEC (plus Bluetooth, Airplay, etc. built-in) these days. The only thing I have plugged into my home TV's is a Roku box...I use Netflix & Amazon for streaming, VUDU for rentals or purchases, and Plex for LAN streaming of my own movies (plus a few other misc apps).
Anyway, imo Apple had their chance & blew it, just like the iWatch. I think if they had come out with the iWatch before stuff like the FitBit existed, that would have been amazing...pedometer, GPS tracking, GPS directions, heartrate monitor, sleep tracking, movement tracking, and so on. But that's old hat now, just like how the Roku has been around for awhile, lets you add your own apps, etc. Or maybe if they had integrated a smarthome controller like the Wink Hub into the Apple TV (or Airport Extreme wireless router) or something.
But I don't really see Apple making a dedicated TV, or integrating an AppleTV box into a television (that would get outdated quickly), or doing much other than opening up the iOS for ATV platform to add some third-party apps & games. It'd be cool if they did that, because a lot of the stuff I want to play are just basic fun games that can be thrown up on the TV for kids, without having to get a dedicated gaming console for hundreds of dollars.
Anyway, just opening it up for discussion since Cook had some interesting remarks on Apple & the TV platform recently.
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