No surprise they went to Gene Munster for a comment. Munster is the dweeb predicted Apple would make their own TV for 6 years running, and frantically pestered Apple on investor calls to make it happen. This despite the fact that the entire Television market is a tiny fraction of the PC market, let alone the smartphone/tablet markets, and it never made sense for Apple to ever make a TV set.<p>Most analysts have no clue what it takes to run a business, they are focused on balance sheet and income statements separate from the reality that created them (which is the exact opposite of what Buffett does). The Apple Watch was about as successful as was possible (probably the best selling watch in history by revenues), and some analysts flipped out that it wasn't as big as the iPhone (even though Apple Watch outsold iPhone in their first year).<p>The latest AppleTV is great, a substantial improvement to the previous model, and very competitive in every way other than cost (it's ease of use premiums is worthwhile though IMHO). I use Siri, play games with my kids, subscribed to HBO/Netflix, etc. The only reason sales declined over the previous model is that it's significantly more expensive. But the reality is the hardware can't ever be a big product for Apple, other than opening the door to getting a piece of subscription revenues for streaming content.<p>The only thing left holding back AppleTV, Xbox, Roku, Fire, Google, et al, is access to live and current tv content. Apple hasn't been able to crack the code to get live TV channels yet, but neither has most anyone else. The real problem is the cable business model, and it needs to fracture a little more before it breaks entirely and all the set top boxes get access to all the content.
It's still not a bad product. I don't need my TV guide to be revolutionary. Tiles of apps are widely used now.<p>Apple the TV Provider assumed Apple would be able to make iTunes like deals to get TV and Movies like they got Music. This didn't come to fruition, so we got a pretty standard media streaming device with pretty standard prices.<p>If you use other Apple products, AirPlay is probably the best screen sharing software out there. Try to get a Windows computer to do that with an Xbox without at least an hour of Googling and shady streaming software.<p>In the last 2 decades Apple has made a single revolutionary product, the iPhone. The rest have been polished version of existing products. The Apple TV falls into the latter category.
I considered an apple tv at one point. My fiancee is all in on apple otherwise, and the roku/blu ray/smart tv for various services was getting a little cluttered.<p>Then I went to a friends house, and used his xbox one. It does everything all of these systems do, streams every major provider, and uh, it's also an xbox. Since then we've ditched every other device in the living room.
tldr/+detail/trim;<p>Apple hired Amazon's Fire TV chief to run its TV operations. He brings hardware and content experience and this may signal renewed focus on Apple TV.<p>5th gen ATV is currently being tested that may release as soon as this year, codename: J105. Supports 4k streaming and HDR sources say.<p>The ATV improvements are needed to stay competitive as 4K TVs become mainstream, but these alone probably will not make it a groundbreaking, iPhone-caliber product.<p>Apple engineers have repeatedly been forced to compromise on their vision of revolutionizing the living room sources say.<p>Apple's difficulties in this space are a combination of difficulties negotiating iTunes style efficient/cheap deals and innovative, fast competitors
IMHO the real thing that Apple has been missing is not live TV, but interactive gaming. The weak performances of Nintendo with the Wii U presented/presents a very good opportunity for Apple to create an environment, APIs, and accessories for interactive gaming, e.g. Wiimote-type accessories or actual Wiimote bluetooth pairing, multiplayer with iPhone paired to the AppleTV etc. There are some APIs and MFI specs for controllers, but it could go much further, and they need a killer-game that demonstrates the power of the ecosystem.
I have a 3rd and a 4th gen Apple TV and while I use them daily they feel like unfinished products. That is what it comes down to. For whatever reason (lack of time, budget, manpower, leadership, vision, whatever) they just are missing that final level of Apple polish that my iPhones and Macs have.
I enjoy my Apple TVs and use them nearly daily (3rd and 4th gens). It's a nice product and what it does it does well. There has always been this expectation that it will one day replace my cable TV, without which keeps it limited to little more than a Roku/Fire device.<p>I'm deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem (Macbook Pros, iPhone, Apple TV), and now I feel locked in to the device because of my decision to buy a lot of content through the iTunes store. I now have a large library of movies and TV shows that cannot be accessed via Roku, XBox, etc. It's partly because of this that I root for Apple and their TV products to succeed.
We've had an Apple TV for about a year, and in a post-cable world, it's a perfect device.<p>We don't have cable. My wife is much more picky about technology than I am and also watches way more TV than I do. She loves the thing. The apps have all of the shows that she used to watch when we did, and things like Siri make it easy to pull up whatever you want without having to dig through apps to find it.<p>The bigger issue is this: a couple can watch TV in the middle of Oregon at decent quality without having fast Internet. You <i>need</i> fast Internet for the Apple TV to function. Much of America doesn't have access to this.
Unless you are buying movies and tv shows from Apple, I just don't see any appeal to the appletv. I have a firetv and I don't feel any need to even consider apple's solution
It's a bizarre article.<p>People have been nipping at Apple for this crap for ages, and they just keep printing money. They're capitalized higher than giant oil conglomerates at this point.<p>When I see quotes like: "To a certain extent, the Apple TV is handcuffed by its parent's addiction to fat margins. Apple is constitutionally allergic to losing money on a product..." you need to eyeroll.<p>The product is probably a moderate success, and is really a margin enhancer product.
> The features will probably boost Apple TV sales as consumers increasingly upgrade to 4K television sets, but those enhancements alone probably aren't enough to turn the gadget into a groundbreaking, iPhone-caliber product.<p>What a stupid thing to say. With the iPhone, one can:<p>Pay bills<p>Play games<p>Text your friend in another country<p>Call your mom<p>Check your bank statement<p>Deposit checks<p>Call you dad<p>Tweet your grandmother<p>Watch a video<p>Play music<p>The list goes on, all while being completely mobile.<p>Apple TV? Not so much.<p>The next iPhone-caliber product will be whatever comes AFTER smartphones. And it likely will have absolutely NOTHING to do with TV.
Snapchat is doing it. They went at it from the right angle. Limited options and curated constant with instant access(you just tap). The user isn't overwhelmed with options and the content is of a decently high standard.<p>Apple TV is way too cumbersome for most people for a dying medium.