Let’s Have Fun Reading Way Too Much Into the Preliminary Schedule for WWDC 2012

Would an Apple TV with apps potentially become a games console? I don't know much about the connectivity available in terms of controllers, etc.<p>It would mean apple could infiltrate the lounge room gaming market without having to actually produce a competitor directly to the xbox/ps consoles

His analysis and conclusion seem sound.<p>Apple TV is ready for apps, and it would likely involve a range of partnerships with HBO, Showtime. High quality, reliable streaming to your iPhone, iPad, and TV is a desirable market for paid subscribers and advertising both.

Apps on a TV don't really make sense to me. You've got this super high resolution multi-touch display in your hand in the form of a tablet or SmartPhone that offers direct manipulation. Who wants to bother with pointers and gestures on a lower resolution TV? I think we're just past that now. Games and video content of course make total sense on a TV and maybe interactive features too. A live stream of some silly reality show could include built-in voting. A sports program could offer multiple angles you can choose from and a customizable score-board. I think that's where we are heading. If Apple doesn't do it someone else will soon enough. I think Apple is probably about the only company who could get the content providers on-board though.

My guess: major third-party game franchises, for iPad and/or AppleTV.<p>The next-generation GPU in the series Apple uses (PowerVR G6200) is equivalent in power to the Xbox360 GPU (Xenos). So, you could port Black Ops/MW3/BF3. The next expected process-shrink enables this with the same battery life. But Apple's not due for a new iPad, and not everything may be possible yet (e.g. display's power consumption). AppleTV doesn't have the power constraint, so, with GPU upgrade, it could be first announced there.<p>The reason to rush is to get established as a competitive alternative game platform before being overshadowed by the next generation of game consoles. Game consoles may pay the ultimate price for holding off so long...

Not sure why he would jump to the Apple TV conclusion. It might just be that they're releasing APIs for Siri, and/or some Intents-like cross-app collaboration API. Those would be big deals too.

You certainly have a different idea of fun than I do.

There's something missing here. The Apple TV is still a hobby. 3M units a year is not significant enough to sustain an app ecosystem similar to the iOS platform.<p>Apple has been in this position before with small platforms. A good example is webobjects. They lowered the price and relaxed the license on several occasions hoping it would take off, but so long as it didn't they didn't invest in it too significantly.<p>I think John might be right that there is a new platform being announced, and certainly this level of TBC implies some very significant software announcements, but I don't think its AppleTV. Or at least not the current AppleTV.<p>Either some major new functionality in iOS, or a significant new TV product or something else completely seems more likely to me.