New Apple TV sales start on Oct. 26, ships next week, Cook says
During an interview at this year's WSJD Live conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced Apple TV will be available for purchase next Monday and should start shipping out to buyers at the end of the week.
After announcing a fourth-generation Apple TV in September, Apple is ready to start sales next Monday ahead of shipments that same week. The company promised to start shipping units out by the end of October.
Speaking on Apple TV's potential for industry disruption, Cook said "linear TV" like cable is going away, to be replaced by streaming platforms capable of delivering premium programming and content directly to consumers. For example, HBO currently offers a piecemeal over the top service through Apple TV.
"This is the foundation of the future of TV," Cook said.
The fourth-generation Apple TV sports Siri virtual assistant support with deep search functionality, a dedicated App Store and onboard storage. Users will be able to query Siri via an all-new touchpad remote control with embedded microphone and motion sensors, the latter hardware supporting third-party games and app GUIs. Powering the new set-top streamer is a beefed up A8 SoC.
Apple TV pricing starts at $149 for a 32GB model, while a 64GB version will be available for $199.
After announcing a fourth-generation Apple TV in September, Apple is ready to start sales next Monday ahead of shipments that same week. The company promised to start shipping units out by the end of October.
Speaking on Apple TV's potential for industry disruption, Cook said "linear TV" like cable is going away, to be replaced by streaming platforms capable of delivering premium programming and content directly to consumers. For example, HBO currently offers a piecemeal over the top service through Apple TV.
"This is the foundation of the future of TV," Cook said.
The fourth-generation Apple TV sports Siri virtual assistant support with deep search functionality, a dedicated App Store and onboard storage. Users will be able to query Siri via an all-new touchpad remote control with embedded microphone and motion sensors, the latter hardware supporting third-party games and app GUIs. Powering the new set-top streamer is a beefed up A8 SoC.
Apple TV pricing starts at $149 for a 32GB model, while a 64GB version will be available for $199.
Comments
Finally! Now I hope the Plex App is available at launch.
The only news made tonight was that ?TV ships next week.
With yours, I couldn't even be bothe
It's really a poor decision as far as futureproofing goes. 4K sets are rapidly dropping in price; I saw one LG unit on sale recently for under $600; I paid that much for a 720p Bravia in 2008 (which I'm still using actually).
These interviews with Tim Cook are so boring. We all know the questions that will be asked. We pretty much know what his answers are going to be and what questions he won't answer (e.g. questions about an Apple car). So far tonight we got a question on Apple Music, a question on ?Watch, a question on ?TV, a question on iPhone innovation (buying into the stupid meme that "s" cycle phones are just minor improvements), a question on cars, on Apple retail and on privacy. And with the privacy question no one seems to be pushing back on the trade offs. I wish someone would push Cook on that because there definitely are trade offs and if people had the choice I think some would choose a Google Now/Google on Tap experience. They would be willing to make that trade off. But Apple makes that choice for you. And the choice right now is an inferior experience.
The only news made tonight was that ?TV ships next week.
Can someone explain why the iPhone 6s supports 4K video recording, we now have 4K and 5K iMacs yet the ?TV doesn't support 4K (while competitor boxes from the likes of Amazon and Roku do)? That makes no sense to me other than Phil Schiller decided it needed to be held back so Apple had a reason for you to buy a new one in a couple years.
Why is every single one of your posts a depressing rant or whine? There are a million reasons why the Apple TV does not support 4K, some of which are:
1) Price point
2) Much more powerful hardware needed to smoothly run a 4K interface
3) Tiny percentage of 4K TV owners
Really, it's not that flabbergasting. 4K adoption- either through hardware or content- is not wide enough to warrant making pricing and performance tradeoffs to support it. Why can't you ever be positive or optimistic about anything? The new Apple TV is a massive improvement from its predecessor, in terms of user interface, capabilities, input, remote, and power. Why not take a second to appreciate that, then to focus all your energy on the fact that it doesnt support a TV resolution that barely anyone owns, that barely any content is available in, and that takes a ridiculous amount of bandwidth that very few people have?
It's a pity Siri doesn't work in all countries. Then again, I only have the option of buying movies and music on the ?TV. No TV shows yet, no Hulu, Netflix yet, so I definitely am not the target market for this.
I'll still get it though!
yes, and people are free to make that choice -- by buying a google powered phone. what's stopping you? Apple, like any manufacturer, makes a thousand choices for you when designing a product. so goes Google. choosing the one you want is how you approach this. complaining that the one you like doesn't make all the choices the way you would have is a pointless bit of navel gazing. vote with your dollars. what's stopping you?
if either are LCD sets then they both still suck. you can keep them...ill wait until there's something at least as good as a Panasonic plasma.
Have you demanded an explanation of why Google Chromecast only supports 1080p when YouTube features 2160p content? No? It's only wrong when Apple does it?
Do so few people use optical out that Apple decided to drop it completely from the new Apple TV? My current Apple TV is hooked up to a soundbar that I have via optical.
If I were to get this new Apple TV, I have to look into other sort of hookup options, and I would have to buy some sort of adapter in addition to the Apple TV.
For now, I'm just going to keep using my current Apple TV. Maybe I'll look into this new Apple TV in the future sometime, after I see how gaming is
going to be on it.
Agree, not sure how prevalent 4K TVs are at this point.
As much as I dislike ranting and whining, I also feel the 3 reasons you've given aren't super compelling.
I bought a 4K LG with the WebOS 2.0 smart features earlier this year. Of course I'd prefer an Apple interface, but the LG WebOS is perfectly serviceable and the price was pretty reasonable. And if I have one, 4K is not something only a tiny percentage of people can afford, in fact I feel soon 4K will completely replace 1080p just like 720p was replaced several years ago.
There is 4K content just waiting for delivery. The NBC show The Blacklist is available via Netflix in 4K and it is pretty awesome! I'd imagine most top shelf TV is shot at least 4K these days.
And at cheaper prices.
Think of it from Apple's PoV. I could see how Apple wouldn't want to offer a 4K capable Apple TV until there was 4K content they could offer. Sure, pulling content from the iTS isn't the only feature, and just having a 4K UI, being able to see your pictures in better detail, or the iPhone 6S-series video, would be enough for us, but we're not Apple.
Or maybe it's because they don't yet have an H.265 en/decoder that will support the profile needed, which may explain why 4K is disabled by default on the 6S-series and why there is no talk of H.265 for the iPhone when recording in 4K.
Note: I'm not saying these are the reasons—I can't possibly know what they are—but these seem like Appley reasons to me.
By the time 4K is relevant your LG set will probably be broken.
Optical doesn't support 7.1 audio so why not just move to HDMI only.