Apple television: Companies want to replace the TV remote with your voice. There’s got to be a better way.
Farhad completely misses the point in his article and by extension Apple’s agenda. Whenever they make a product, for better or for worse, it is a complete industry changer.
They were one of the first companies to integrate the mouse into their OS, they were the first to remove the floppy disk drive, they were the first to allow major software upgrades over USB, and recently they have started moving away from the mouse altogether.
Farhad, mentions that Apple will have to figure out a way for their TV to integrate with a multitude of devices, e.g. Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, etc. I disagree. Apple’s TV will be completely fixed in the cloud, it will not accept Blu-ray inputs, save for a solitary HDMI cable; it will not have ports for a million devices because everything will reside in the cloud.
This is the fundamental shift that, I believe, Apple is looking to make and in my opinion it will be successful because most people just want to turn on their television and watch their favourite shows. Indeed, this is the reason the Bose TV, while panned for its price, is overall a very useful product for those that can afford it. It is tightly integrated and does what it needs to without an obnoxious amount of cables. Similarly, the Apple TV will do away with physical components (Blu-ray, set-top box, etc) and really solely on cloud streaming. Just likes iTunes Music become a market leader, I predict iTunes Video will also become the de facto post-cable standard.
Next, Farhad discusses the need for remote controls and such. While I agree a purely voice interface may not be ideal, I think Apple will look to do away with the “channel” paradigm altogether. TV shows and movies will be bough ala carte via apps or through iTunes Video. Navigation will involve the user saying “Mad Men” and the Mad Men app with the latest episodes will turn on. Live broadcasts will have their own dedicated app, for that particular channel (e.g. ESPN, CNN, BBC, etc.)
This is where Apple will succeed.
