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Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday unveiled the company's new products, including the iPad Pro, the iPhone 6s, and the possibly game-changing Apple TV, described by Cook as "a new foundation for television."
Dawn Chmielewski is a senior editor at Re/Code, and when she joined us after just leaving the packed Apple presentation in San Francisco, we asked her about some of the features of the new and improved Apple TV, as well as her thoughts on Apple TV's role in ushering in the future of television.
Tim Cook said that technology, like phones, has improved throughout the years, yet television has been stagnant. So what is Apple TV going to do to change the TV experience?
Good question. Let's face it — we've all been waiting for Apple to actually create a new television set, one with a new interface and perhaps a streamlined experience. We'll have to wait a bit longer to get an actual TV in the living room, but what Apple did announce was a new version of its set-top box, its device that streams video to the television set. And this device has been dramatically improved in several ways.
The Apple TV remote is actually a departure from the universal remote you may be familiar with — there are no numbers on the remote. Rather, it has a touch-sensitive panel that allows you to navigate your programming options with swipes, much like you might use the same sorts of gestures on other Apple devices. It also employs Siri, Apple's intelligent assistant, so you can speak to the remote to call up programming. It's a different and simpler interface for consumers.
Can I say to the remote, "What did she just say?" Will the TV back up 10 seconds?
Exactly, and it'll add captioning. The other element that has changed with this version of the set-top box is that Apple will bring apps to the television set. Tim Cook was saying that we're already using apps to view video on our mobile devices, like YouTube apps or Netflix apps to watch content, and what this update does is bring that same sort of interface to the TV.
So not only will I be able to access HBO Go or Netflix, but I'll also now be able to play games on my TV, the casual games that Nintendo used to be known for and even some console games that I might have found on the XBox or Playstation.
So you're basically describing a giant iPad where I can play all my games or I can look up menus on Epicurious — it's basically a living room version of what we have in our pockets.
Precisely. Apple is trying to play to its strength and to bring people into its very familiar ecosystem. Anyone who's used an iPhone or iPad will recognize the interface, and the interesting thing is that it sets the table for what's next for Apple.
We know that Apple is in discussions with the networks about bringing together a package of traditional broadcast content. They're not there yet, and they probably won't be by the end of this year, but this fills the content gap until Apple can develop a fuller programming offering.
I'm curious about Amazon. Amazon's not only a purveyor of lots of goods, but they're also now a purveyor of television. Do we know whether or not Amazon will be a part of the future of Apple TV?
We don't. Amazon was the one notable omission from Tim Cook's presentation today. He talked about a number of other video services such as Netflix, HBO Go and Hulu, but there was no mention of Amazon.
The new Apple TV will go on sale in October at two different price points, $149 for the 32gb model and $199 for the 64gb model. Do you think the device is actually going to influence and change the way people watch TV?
I think that's a tall order. We've already evolved so dramatically in how we watch TV — we've seen things like TiVo and other digital video recorders really changing the way we experience live TV, and perhaps this is something that brings us a step further.