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iniewski
Sounds intriguing Mattie but making dinner reservation and building grocery ...
mattie b
How about this?? Siri... but in your home. Starts with something more than a ...
Can Apple make a better Web TV?
Rick Merritt
12/27/2011 2:08 PM EST
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The consumer electronics industry has seen plenty of Web-connected TVs and will see plenty more at CES 2012 and beyond. The burning question these days is whether Apple can crystallize the concept into a must-have product as it has done with MP3 players, smartphones and tablets.
This morning, Taiwan's Digitimes became the latest to weigh in on rumors Apple Inc. will deliver a connected TV. It reported the so-called iTV could ship by August using 32- and 37-inch screens from Sharp and chips made by Samsung.
The rumors kicked into high gear following the release this year of the official biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It quoted Jobs as saying he "had finally cracked the code" on an integrated TV product.
Since then others have turned down the volume on the hype, suggesting Apple is still in an early phase of developing such a product. Others have noted TVs do not play to Apple strengths because systems are rarely upgraded and carry new and heavy supply chain challenges for the computer and device maker.
On the other hand, Apple's software designers have a knack for making complex things simple. The company also has the Hollywood connections to plow through some of the resistance from studios and broadcasters.
We shared our concept of a hot iTV back in 2008. Since then Yahoo! entered the market, enabling 3.5 million connected TVs in 2009. Google followed with its own PR splash and products that flopped and is now working on a next-generation platform. The gyrations have been enough to jerk Intel in and out of this emerging market.
Even two years ago, nearly every TV maker had at least one Web TV model in its line up at CES. Earlier this year, one consumer veteran helped launch an open Web TV standards effort. Analysts have put out big projections for sales of as many as 650 million of such systems by 2014.
We'd love to hear from TV makers and anyone who has tried a connected TV. What are the sore spots of these products to date? How could Apple create a better product?
This morning, Taiwan's Digitimes became the latest to weigh in on rumors Apple Inc. will deliver a connected TV. It reported the so-called iTV could ship by August using 32- and 37-inch screens from Sharp and chips made by Samsung.
The rumors kicked into high gear following the release this year of the official biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It quoted Jobs as saying he "had finally cracked the code" on an integrated TV product.
Since then others have turned down the volume on the hype, suggesting Apple is still in an early phase of developing such a product. Others have noted TVs do not play to Apple strengths because systems are rarely upgraded and carry new and heavy supply chain challenges for the computer and device maker.
On the other hand, Apple's software designers have a knack for making complex things simple. The company also has the Hollywood connections to plow through some of the resistance from studios and broadcasters.
We shared our concept of a hot iTV back in 2008. Since then Yahoo! entered the market, enabling 3.5 million connected TVs in 2009. Google followed with its own PR splash and products that flopped and is now working on a next-generation platform. The gyrations have been enough to jerk Intel in and out of this emerging market.
Even two years ago, nearly every TV maker had at least one Web TV model in its line up at CES. Earlier this year, one consumer veteran helped launch an open Web TV standards effort. Analysts have put out big projections for sales of as many as 650 million of such systems by 2014.
We'd love to hear from TV makers and anyone who has tried a connected TV. What are the sore spots of these products to date? How could Apple create a better product?
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rick.merritt
12/27/2011 2:31 PM EST
Will an Apple A5+ chip be enough or will Apple need more homegrown silicon?
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selinz
12/27/2011 4:52 PM EST
Most higher end TV's already have various web programs built in (like netflix, hulu, etc.) so the only thing that Apple could bring to the party that would be compelling is live TV. I'm guessing that'll be tough...
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Bert22306
12/29/2011 5:35 PM EST
Thing is, live TV is already available online. It's not Apple's decision to make it available or not to. It's the content owners' decisions.
Check out this site:
http://wwitv.com/portal.htm
Live TV from a huge list of countries, just like being there. I don't need Apple to provide this. If anything, it's the US TV networks that would decide to make it happen.
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wilber_xbox
12/30/2011 4:53 AM EST
I think that Apple can bring the needed momentum to the live TV if Apple move into this domain. Its true that many others have failed to gather any momentum but Apple can create a niche for itself just like it did with Tablet.
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kdboyce
12/27/2011 7:00 PM EST
Web connected TV's are rather the norm now, and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu make having them worthwhile if you watch a lot of old TV shows or movies.
Given the relative low quality of new TV shows on the air today, an Apple TV would have to bring much higher "eyeball stickiness" to the TV set via presently unavailable and desirable features in order for me to work up any sort of desire for one. Interactivity with the TV in the same manner as with the iPad would seem to be an obvious minimum feature set. The TV becomes a bigger iPad + TV in a way similar to how the iPhone is almost anything else + a phone.
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hm
12/27/2011 10:35 PM EST
It will be very interesting to see Apple TV and launch of it after demise of Steve Job.
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Sheetal.Pandey
12/28/2011 12:16 AM EST
Its been quite some time that WebTV concept is making rounds. We have high hopes from Apple. Let see if WebTV gets into a revolution like ipad. Good luck to them!
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prabhakar_deosthali
12/28/2011 1:03 AM EST
I truly believe that Apple has the ingenuity and capability to bring out a revolutionary Web TV product.
One of the differentiating features of web TV could be that it could interactive and that along with reality shows suited to use that interactive feature effectively will boost the popularity of web TV
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GREAT-Terry
12/28/2011 2:22 AM EST
How good the web TV can be success depends very much on the quality and accessibility of the content. I believe Apple can come up with a new business model that not only make money from selling hardware, upgrades and purchasing content. Of course, I'm not sure if this kind of TV can be popular outside USA. At least in Asia, I don't see great success with the WebTV sold by the other big names. The carrier is usually the biggest hurdle.
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chanj
12/28/2011 2:39 PM EST
Neither videos streaming nor web browsing is a new feature. A breakthrough has to be more than repackaging the already existed features. Ease of use and rich content seem to be some of the keys to the success of webTV.
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BobbieSmith
12/28/2011 4:11 PM EST
An Apple TV will allow the owner to pick and choose the channel lineup instead of being stuck with 200+ channels where you only watch 10-15.
It will connect to the App store for access to Games, TV shows, Movies, Music, Family Photos and videos from iCloud,
Facetime video conferencing with friends and family!!
And it will do it all with a remote with 5 buttons instead of the monster remotes we have now.
Siri support so I can say, "Watch the latest episode of Modern Family". No more paging through a guide list to try to find something to watch.
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Frank Eory
12/28/2011 5:08 PM EST
I think you've hit on most of it. The UI and easy access to content will be the two main areas where Apple can add value.
One of the keys to consumer acceptance though will be intelligent integration of content sources and pricing models that aren't entirely for Apple's benefit at the consumer's expense.
To use your example about watching the latest episode of Modern Family, the TV should be smart enough to know that you're a cable subscriber and this episode is available for free on VOD...and then just queue it up for you. If you tell Siri that you've missed the last 5 episodes, it should know that only the last 3 are still on VOD, and then direct you to the iTunes store where you can rent the older 2 episodes.
In other words, if every content request is just a redirect to the iTunes store, even when "free" (or already paid for) sources are accessible, I don't think consumers will jump for joy.
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KB3001
12/29/2011 9:33 AM EST
I agree with that. Beyond service integration (which is not a big ask) it's the user experience that will dictate whether a WebTV product is a success or not. I also think voice-control and intelligent indexing and search of multimedia is what will make Apple iTV stand out.
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Bert22306
12/31/2011 1:42 PM EST
Honestly, what I can't figure out is, why don't the individual TV manufacturers differentiate themselves by independently coming up with clever TV-related software for their connected TVs? Or for that matter, why don't independent software houses do this for PCs and Macs? Why should the major brands all glom onto the same Google (or what have you) solution?
This makes no sense to me. The TV manufacturers can use their choice of browser, they can use their choice of search engine, and they can use their software gurus to tweak the package to provide better features than the competition.
Apple isn't the only game in town by any stretch of the imagination.
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Dave.Dykstra
12/29/2011 12:50 AM EST
Since first hearing this rumor, I've been wondering just what Apple would do to make a better connected TV, and make it something that people really want to buy. The TV market already has a lot of connected TV's, but what is still lacking is something that makes them compelling for the average consumer.
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chanj
12/29/2011 12:11 PM EST
As far as my observation goes, Apple fans buy Apple TV anyway. I agree that Apple has to make the product more compelling to non-Apple fans.
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Bert22306
12/29/2011 5:14 AM EST
I've been very unimpressed with so-called "connected TVs," and yet most of my TV watching these days is streaming online. That's because I connected a PC to my audio/TV setup, and I do my channel surfing by moving a remote mouse on the couch next to me.
No limitations to what web content I can watch.
The problem with an Apple, or a Google, or any other single entity, trying to horn in on all the action is, the content owners can tell them to go pound sand, any time they please. If not immediately, perhaps next year?
The way I'm set up, with a PC that looks like any other to the content owners, any number of clever software designers can create easy to use software for TV watching. And the content owners would have no reasonable way of singling out any one system.
Besides which, sites like Hulu and Netflix, not to mention the networks' own sites, can ALSO make it easier for TV viewers. They can provide individual login. keep track of what episodes you already saw, suggest other showm etc. Which SHOULD be a warning that they may not take kindly to any one company trying to monopolize the field?
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t.alex
12/29/2011 10:00 AM EST
Apple probably wont make TV after all.
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wilber_xbox
12/30/2011 4:58 AM EST
Its amazing to note that TV in its traditional form has survived till this new web-age. Most of other form of entertainment has either perished or lost significance. The TV content is still majorly selected by studios and channels. Only TRPs decide the fate of a show.
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phoenixdave
12/30/2011 10:45 AM EST
Google tried this and was stifled by the roadblocks created by the major networks. What makes Apple think they can be any more successful?
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iniewski
1/3/2012 11:03 AM EST
As Bert says the technology is already here (wwiTV for example) but a quick look shows you that there is little interesting content there so I would not watch it...my kids though (in their late 20ies) don't want to pay for cable so they watch only what is available on the net, most of their peers do the same...so it is only the question of time for webTV to take over...whether the Apple makes enough content deals to make this happen would be interesting to see and give a good prediction of post-Jobs era for them....Kris
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mattie b
1/3/2012 1:18 PM EST
How about this?? Siri... but in your home. Starts with something more than a convenient interface to your home entertainment system... it gets smart about what you like to watch and recommends things for you... as more things get connected, thermostat, fridge, this becomes more like a personal valet. Builds a grocery list.. keeps the house comfortable... Makes you dinner reservations...
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iniewski
1/3/2012 1:47 PM EST
Sounds intriguing Mattie but making dinner reservation and building grocery lists seem to be going too far...I like variety in food, I doubt Siri will help me deciding what to eat and where...Kris
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