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This device looks slick but I'm very disappointed that it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. It might be best of breed in terms of polish and feat
by chambo622 11y ago
This device looks slick but I'm very disappointed that it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. It might be best of breed in terms of polish and features compared to Android TV, Fire TV, etc - but functionally, it's identical. What happened to Apple revolutionizing the way people pay for/consume content?
- mrtron 11y agoIt is primarily a rebranding of the already functional yet unpopular AppleTV. It seems casual games are the desired inroads to mainstream.
- seiji 11y agoI'm very disappointed that it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. You have a promising career ahead as an Apple analyst.
- chambo622 11y agoLol, didn't mean to speak in platitudes. Just commenting as someone who has spent a lot of time with Android TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, etc
- seiji 11y agoIt's just amusing since they aren't even done announcing it yet and people already hate it. :) It's not like Apple has ever been late to a party (phones, anybody?) and redefined and entire already-saturated market.
- Navarr 11y agoThe iPhone DID bring something new to the table though. It brought a LOT of new to the table. Apple TV just.. doesn't.
- seiji 11y agoBut... do the other platforms have millions of developers ready to create experiences for them? Don't think "Apple TV," think "Apple bigass interactive application substrate."
- Navarr 11y agoYes. Yes they do. Especially Android TV.
- cheald 11y agoYeah, they do. The problem is that very few people actually want to load their TV up with apps - they just want Netflix. "Apps...on your TV!" has been a promise on multiple platforms for a few years now and it seems like nobody really cares past the first couple of weeks they have the device.
- seiji 11y agoMy WebTV in 1999 sucked. Nobody should ever try again. :(
- cheald 11y agoThe people who want interactivity with their TV have game consoles. Even on those wildly successful, high-use consoles, the "apps" (as opposed to "games", the first-class use case for the device) typically do rather poorly. Not-console-manufacturers have been trying to break into this market for ages by making a TV viewing device that also happens to be a casual gaming console (/app platform), but it seems that people who want gaming on their TVs buy gaming consoles, while people who want TV on their TV buy things that let them watch TV, and there isn't enough overlap between the two for One Grand Unified Device to capture the market. Microsoft really went hard-in on the married TV and gaming concept with the XBox One, and it's been a massive flop compared to the PS4 (with the PS4 outselling it 2:1). I don't think it's an issue of "nobody's done it right yet" - I think it's actually two separate markets and attempts to marry them just can't force those two markets to both want the same thing.
- epistasis 11y agoThis is basically what every analyst says every time Apple introduces something new, be it iPod, iPhone, or to some degree even the iPad. Sometimes being familiar with features prevents people from realizing that most people can't use them, or that they're not well implemented.
- knorby 11y agoIn terms of hardware, it isn't the winner for this sort of product. According to reports from a few days ago, the new Apple TV lacks 4K support. The Nvidia Shield runs Android TV, supports 4K (well), and has a pretty reasonable GPU in it. It costs $50 more.
- chambo622 11y agoThe Shield is an amazingly good device but it will never sell at anything near the rate of Apple TV. It's targeted toward gamers and enthusiasts, many of whom already have a console already.
- urda 11y agoMost homes are not 4K ready and are not anywhere near it at this time. Not really a hurting point in this market.
- cheald 11y agoI generally agree with you, but Apple's brand image is "luxury"; it does seem odd that what is ostensibly a premium brand would not be targeting premium features. To put it another way, people who have 4k TVs today - the luxury market - may be put off of the new Apple TV because of its lack of support for their higher-end devices. I'm not sure that's a desirable effect.
- aaronbrethorst 11y agoApple's brand image is "luxury" That's their image, but supporting 4k would probably add a few bucks to the cost of the Apple TV, which would be unacceptable to Tim Cook. 4k will be included when it's achieved decent market penetration.
- JohnBooty 11y agoI don't know if their brand image can be defined that easily. They sell their stuff at Wal-Mart, after all.
- makomk 11y ago
- eikenberry 11y agoBut does is run Kodi (xbmc)? That is the killer feature of FireTV and other android based TV devices.
- ascagnel_ 11y agoUnless Amazon has substantially changed it's outlook on the Fire TV, Kodi is a disappointment. It's buried in a submenu and requires side-loading, and you have to mess with the device to get it to load as the homescreen or be surfaced on the main app launcher.
- rcraft 11y agoProblem solved: http://sideloadfiretv.com/add-kodi-xbmc-icon-to-fire-tvs-home-screen/ http://sideloadfiretv.com/add-kodi-xbmc-icon-to-fire-tvs-hom... Simple step by step tutorial allows you to load Kodi from FireTV through any app icon.
- ascagnel_ 11y agoI'm getting a database error when I click that link, but if it's anything beyond "open store app, download app, go to home screen, run app", it's a third-class citizen (considering that Netflix et al are second-class citizens on the Fire TV).
- fsckin 11y agoWorking link for instructions: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-launch-kodi-xbmc-spmc-and-other-sideloaded-apps-from-the-fire-tv-homescreen/ http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-launch-kodi-xbmc-spmc-and-oth...
- ascagnel_ 11y agoThe "easy and quick to set up" option is ten steps, and that's just to get the app on the home screen (rather than to replace the home screen). In what world is that not a third-class option?
- JohnBooty 11y agodoesn't really bring anything new to the table. It might be best of breed in terms of polish and features I'd say their mission is more to be best of breed in polish, and generally just keep pace in features. Which I am actually pretty okay with - given the fact that 90% of the crap in our industry feels like it was cranked out by a sleep-deprived maniac deep into their third consecutive month of crunch time.
- abritinthebay 11y ago> It might be best of breed in terms of polish and features It is. That's exactly how Apple revolutionizes anything - by making it fun, and natural, to use. Just like tablets, mp3 players, and smartphones existed before Apple got into them. This is what they do, it's what they always do, and yet people are surprised by it every time.
- nemo44x 11y agoYup. When jobs announced the iPod at a special event most people said "big deal, it's an MP3 player". What they didn't look at was how great the UI was, how well it integrated with their Mac (and eventually PC) and how much better the same features that already existed elsewhere were. I believe the same rules apply here. And the app store will be the best in town. Again.
- abritinthebay 11y agoand with the iPad: "big deal, it's just a large iPhone". The fact that most of HN seems to hate or deride these features (like the Live Photos thing) tells me that they'll likely be a huge success and all be using them in a year.
- nemo44x 11y agoWhich is odd because you would think a community like this the actors would be forward thinking and try and see what the possibilities are. The lack of creativity isn't unique to this place or generation - Slashdot had similar sentiments years ago when they still mattered.
- abritinthebay 11y agoNot really odd. It's pretty normal at this point.
- rimantas 11y agoAlas, community like this has very little empathy for non-tech, non-dev folks. I am amused how narrow worldview can be sometimes on HN. Every kid should learn to code, because nothing else is interesting on Earth, everyone is supposed to tinker with their devices, because what's else there to do, etc. And when I state that "Inmates are running the asylum" is one of the book that changed my worldview it does not usually end well for me.
- gambiter 11y agoDo Android TV, Fire TV, etc., have a multi-axis, touch remote with Siri (or any spoken) interface built in, and also include an SDK for building apps (including full-blown games) that are universal between the TV and phone/tablet? I mean, you said it's identical...
- benologist 11y agoFire TV has a bluetooth remote control with voice search, and an app store... and so does Google. Room for improvement but Apple's looks substantially similar to them both. Unless they've arranged a lot more gaming content than the android equivalents it's just going to be another netflix box + itunes, vs netflix + amazon prime, vs netflix + google play movies.
- fps 11y agoBoth FireTV and Android TV have voice control via their remotes. Both have universal SDKs between TV, Tablet and Phone. Neither have touch enabled remotes or motion sensitive remotes, but both have traditional console game controller accessories and full blown (PS3 quality) gaming hardware. (http://shield.nvidia.com/games/android http://shield.nvidia.com/games/android and http://www.amazon.com/b?node=7031433011 http://www.amazon.com/b?node=7031433011) NVidia's Android TV will even play your PC games streaming off your gaming PC.
- rsynnott 11y agoI assume that the AppleTV will also support the various iOS-compatible game controllers which exist.
- Pharaoh2 11y agoYes, Partly (Doesn't have the multi-axis part) and Yes.
- tdaltonc 11y ago> What happened to Apple revolutionizing the way people pay for/consume content? I was really hoping to hear about a deal with ESPN to bring ESPN directly to viewers without a cable subscription.
- awptimus 11y agoBahahaha. That's funny. ESPN's entire business model is based on being just popular enough that any cable company not carrying it would go under so they can demand something on the order of $6.50 per subscriber when the majority of subscribers don't watch ESPN. If they ever offered an individual subscriber deal they sure as hell wouldn't do it for $6.50 per sub per month.
- rsynnott 11y ago> It might be best of breed in terms of polish and features compared to Android TV, Fire TV, etc - but functionally, it's identical. That's always kind of been Apple's thing, though. The controller does look somewhat original. > What happened to Apple revolutionizing the way people pay for/consume content? I suspect that the content providers looked carefully at what happened to the music industry when they played ball with Apple (especially the unilateral killing of DRM on iTunes; the last holdouts were supposedly told to drop the DRM or be kicked off) and decide that they don't want any of that, thank you very much.
- qq66 11y agoApple almost never completely invents a new market out of the blue. What they typically do is take a relatively small existing market and make a hugely successful product in that market, expanding the market by orders of magnitude. The Nokia N95 was a touchscreen smartphone before the iPhone, but the day I first used the iPhone, my N95 felt twenty years old.