Ever since Steve Jobs gave us a prowler peak at Apple ’s internal iTV project at 2006 ’s “ Showtime ” effect , we ’ve been waiting for Apple ’s pioneering set - top box to age . Officially released just moments before the iPhone , Apple TV was designed to be the magical gismo that bridge the disruption between the small screens on our roving devices and the giant 1 in our live rooms , wirelessly deliver our music , movies and photos to a stead where they could look and sound their near .
At the time , Jobs triumphantly declared that the square box “ complete the story ” that started with the iPod . But we know now the story did n’t end there : With the dawn of the iPhone , iPad and now Apple Watch , our digital life have become far great than the thing that entertain us . But the box that sits under our TVs has n’t really evolved with it .
Rumors have pegged Apple TV for a long overdue update this year , and the WWDC invitation seems to suggest that it might come sooner than later : Even without a inscrutable forensic psychoanalysis it ’s gruelling to miss the telltale rounded hearty silhouette in the inwardness of the logo with the rather suggestive slogan , “ The epicentre of modification . ”
Hmmm …
For most of us , Apple TV is little more than the “ hobby ” Apple has positioned it to be — a fun fashion to stream media and game without the scuffle of wire or excess components — but it could very well be on its way to becoming the command centre for our homes .
Cracking the code
Walter Isaacson raised the phantasm of a flat - projection screen Apple idiot box four years ago with a tantalizing quotation from Jobs in his biography , but these days the thought of an Apple television curing fall just below a railway car on the feasibility shell . But even if we may never have an Apple symbol embossed on the back of a 50 - inch HD screen , that does n’t mean Jobs ’ imagination of “ an structured video band that is completely easy to use ( and ) would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud ” wo n’t come to realisation .
Tim Cook certainly is n’t giving up on it . During Apple ’s second - fourth group discussion call , he signaled that the entertainment manufacture is “ on the edge of major , major change , ” and while he was characteristically coy about his plan , he add together , “ I think Apple can be a part of that . ” There may be some 60 channels currently play on Apple TV , but to get anything resemble live television , you need to have a cable subscription first . As long as the like of Comcast and Time Warner are acting as middlemen , Apple TV will always be a secondary machine , relegated to the third or 4th input in our home theaters .
The Apple TV boxwood has n’t vary much since it establish , but it sound like that ’s about to change .
Of of course , Apple ’s push for a TV service is n’t exactly breaking word . Negotiations have been bruit for years , and arecent written report from the Wall Street Journalclaims that Apple is draw close a deal for a tv set service with a duo 12 distribution channel , include ABC , CBS , ESPN , FOX and presumably a few other democratic canonical cablegram mainstays such as Food connection and A&E. HBO Now and Dish ’s Sling TV have already put serious cracks in the foundation , but a significant investiture from Apple would be the boost online television needs to break through ; and coupled with the on - demand content , an Apple - overhauled Beats subscription military service , and the iTunes movies we already stream , such a service would certainly give Apple TV far corking prominence in our living rooms , paving the room for a multitude of advance .
Continuous function
Even with dissimilar operating systems , our Macs , iPhones , iPads , and Watches are more incorporate than ever thanks to Apple ’s persistence feature in iOS 8 and Yosemite . But the harmony stops with Apple TV . Sure , we can stream game and movies with AirPlay , but for the most part , the sharing experience is far less unseamed than it is on iOS and OS X.
For example , if I ’m playing a plot on my iPhone , I need break it and work on AirPlay mirroring if I want to channelize my progress to Apple TV . Or if I ’m watching an episode ofGame of Throneson HBO Now , I require to pause it , unfold the app on my iPhone and find it in my Watchlist . And if I lease a moving picture on my Apple TV , I ca n’t reassign it at all .
Butthe next generation of Apple TVhas the potential to be the ultimate Handoff gimmick , an always - on box that lease you seamlessly transport spiritualist to your TV with little more than a tap of the remote control on your Watch . And it could extend to more traditional DVR functions , too : A killer feature would be the power to record or save live shows and sports flat to our iCloud drives for prosperous see and re - watching wherever we are , via Remote or some kind of a consecrated Apple TV app on our Macs and iOS devices
Apple TV ’s port is already simple than the ones we get on our cable television box , but an instant style to entree media , apps , game and even productiveness tools would up the ante considerably , transform Apple television receiver into the digital hub it was mean to be and letting us keep our iPhones docked until we ’re ready to will , much like Apple Watch hold us from reaching into our pockets all day .
Home sweet HomeKit
The Internet of Things has overtaken our homes , but while the gizmo and gadgets we use to lock and light our homes all offer some degree of word over the “ dumb ” translation they replaced , most of them provide very disparate methods of control , mostly via separate iPhone apps . And while HomeKit integration was one of the Donald Robert Perry Marquis frameworks uncover at WWDC , nearly a year afterwards we ’ve yet to see much in the way of any real procession that utilize the technology .
The vainglorious vantage HomeKit offers over the piecemeal system is universal voice dominance — like telling Siri on your iPhone to sour off the lights downstairs when you ’re too threadbare to get out of layer — but there are signs that Apple TV could be an built-in part of the HomeKit experience . Apple added HomeKit support for Apple TV support in iOS 8.1 , but has thus far been mum on what character the diminutive box will play , saying only that it works as a sort of liaison when remotely controlling devices with Siri .
But HomeKit ’s hope of integration gives us the power to create virtual nosepiece between devices , permit groups of contraption be controlled in an blink of an eye . As our homes raise smarter , Apple TV could act as a hub to control the various zone we mark up , letting us easily make and rearrange gizmo groups and allowing for flying and tighter integration between them .
We could severalise it to blind the Christ Within could dim when we part watch out a picture show . Or set a “ amatory dinner ” mode that tunes the Beats channel to a soft rock playlist and flip the “ Do not Disturb ” toggle . Or it could start preheating the oven base on the recipe we ’re organize . With Apple TV at the center of our house , the connected things we put in it could get a whole lot more useful , as they commence to make a single , unseamed chain of mechanisation that realize our routines and adapts to them .
Call and response
No matter how Apple TV ultimately fits into the HomeKit organisation , it ’s a dependable wager that Siri will be built into the next revision , bringing long - awaited feature article like dictation for searching and voice - controlled communication channel surfboarding . But streamlining seafaring is potential only part of what Apple ’s ever - expanding digital assistant will be adequate to of on Apple TV .
Siri may have started as a coolheaded way to see the conditions , but over the old age it ’s blossom forth into an indispensable part of iOS , an omnipotent and omnipresent familiar always ready to contribute a hand or bring home the bacon an response . But its really only utilitarian when an iPhone or iPad is within arm ’s compass ; even iOS 8 ’s “ Hey Siri ” feature article only works if your iPhone is plugged in close enough to pick up your command .
But Apple TV could transform Siri from a snatch player into a star . Just like Amazon took the mobile personal assistant from the telephone set to the keep room with its entrancing Echo column , Apple could take a like route with its digital media receiver , set Siri at the shopping centre of our lives like never before . We could ask questions , change channels , turn on lights and act as Sung just by verbalise , no matter how far aside our iPhone is .
And with a penny-pinching family relationship with iOS and OS X , Apple telecasting could be finally become the escape piece that Jobs introduced it as all those years ago . It ’s probably unrealistic to recall it ’ll gain a remote camera for FaceTime birdcall , but a refined notification arrangement could alert us to phone calls and messages while we ’re watching tv set , or suggest tuning to the remnant of a close basketball game .
And , of path , the opening of a consecrated App Store will boom the capabilities of Apple TV beyond anything it can do now . Just like they have with the iPhone and Apple Watch , developer will tap into the uniqueness of Apple TV to deliver apps that integrate with what we know but propose an experience tailor for a whole new platform . Apple TV is on the verge of an renovation of such substantive proportions , it could very well transform the largest screen in our homes into the most important one .
Even if it happens to be made by Samsung .
