TV market looks to mimic Apple with cross-platform 'app store'
TV manufacturers and software makers believe the next evolution of television will feature Internet-connected hardware with a selection of software available in a method like Apple's iPhone App Store.
Companies like Adobe, Roku and Yahoo, and TV manufacturers like LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio all have a stake in the newly forming market, as profiled by SFGate. The Yahoo Widget Engine has led to around 20 applications that are now included with TV sets from a variety of major manufacturers, while Adobe Flash is coming to new connected TVs and Roku's set top box will soon offer third-party applications.
Some of Yahoo's Widget Channel Apps include Facebook, Flickr, USA Today Sports, and a fantasy football application. They work by providing content that can pop up on the side or bottom of the screen. Russ Schafer, senior director of marketing with Yahoo, said the widget applications make watching TV a more interactive experience, like using an iPhone.
Network executives hope that bringing connectivity to the television set will bring viewers back to the living room. Right now, networks must compete with users who spend as much time on their computer as they do on the couch.
Connected TVs are expected to grow in the next few years. While less than a million will be sold this year, the report noted that 13.8 million Internet-enabled TV sets will be in U.S. homes by 2013.
Apple has been rumored to enter the TV business for some time. Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray still expects that the Cupertino, Calif., company will release its own Internet-connected television set by 2011.
Such a device, Munster believes, would have a DVR and home media center functionality built into the set. Such a device could allow recorded TV shows to automatically sync with other devices in the home, like Macs, iPhones and iPods, all wirelessly. It could even, Munster predicted, act as a game machine using an iPhone or iPod touch as a controller.
Illustrations from Apple's DVR patent filing reported by AppleInsider in 2008.
He noted earlier this year that although TV hardware is a competitive business, Apple could very well "change the rules of the game" by offering best-in-class hardware and software.
The Apple TV offers connectivity with Apple's own iTunes, as well as YouTube, but does not offer an App Store like the company provides on the iPhone. In October, Apple updated the Apple TV software to version 3.0, adding compatibility with iTunes LP and iTunes Extras bonus content, along with Genius Mixes and Internet radio.
Companies like Adobe, Roku and Yahoo, and TV manufacturers like LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio all have a stake in the newly forming market, as profiled by SFGate. The Yahoo Widget Engine has led to around 20 applications that are now included with TV sets from a variety of major manufacturers, while Adobe Flash is coming to new connected TVs and Roku's set top box will soon offer third-party applications.
Some of Yahoo's Widget Channel Apps include Facebook, Flickr, USA Today Sports, and a fantasy football application. They work by providing content that can pop up on the side or bottom of the screen. Russ Schafer, senior director of marketing with Yahoo, said the widget applications make watching TV a more interactive experience, like using an iPhone.
Network executives hope that bringing connectivity to the television set will bring viewers back to the living room. Right now, networks must compete with users who spend as much time on their computer as they do on the couch.
Connected TVs are expected to grow in the next few years. While less than a million will be sold this year, the report noted that 13.8 million Internet-enabled TV sets will be in U.S. homes by 2013.
Apple has been rumored to enter the TV business for some time. Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray still expects that the Cupertino, Calif., company will release its own Internet-connected television set by 2011.
Such a device, Munster believes, would have a DVR and home media center functionality built into the set. Such a device could allow recorded TV shows to automatically sync with other devices in the home, like Macs, iPhones and iPods, all wirelessly. It could even, Munster predicted, act as a game machine using an iPhone or iPod touch as a controller.
Illustrations from Apple's DVR patent filing reported by AppleInsider in 2008.
He noted earlier this year that although TV hardware is a competitive business, Apple could very well "change the rules of the game" by offering best-in-class hardware and software.
The Apple TV offers connectivity with Apple's own iTunes, as well as YouTube, but does not offer an App Store like the company provides on the iPhone. In October, Apple updated the Apple TV software to version 3.0, adding compatibility with iTunes LP and iTunes Extras bonus content, along with Genius Mixes and Internet radio.
Comments
Apple has been rumored to enter the TV business for some time. Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray still expects that the Cupertino, Calif., company will release its own Internet-connected television set by 2011.
Such a device, Munster believes, would have a DVR and home media center functionality built into the set. Such a device could allow recorded TV shows to automatically sync with other devices in the home, like Macs, iPhones and iPods, all wirelessly. It could even, Munster predicted, act as a game machine using an iPhone or iPod touch as a controller.
Can't see them adding DVR, more likely a Hard Drive!
TV manufacturers and software makers believe the next evolution of television will feature Internet-connected hardware with a selection of software available in a method like Apple's iPhone App Store.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Hey, Hi there children, It's time to play follow the leader!!
Don't they already have those? I think they're called 'computers' or something.
WebTV was horrible, then MS bought it and a year or two later it was....er.....gone! So was my Dad!
Don't they already have those? I think they're called 'computers' or something.
You are 100% correct. I see a 42" iMac with an 8-core Mac Pro mobo in the future - maybe? One thing for sure, if that did happen it would be freaking expensive!
No thanks....I will wait for Apple's version. It will be done right!
You've had it - for 3 years now- the AppleTV.
TV manufacturers and software makers believe the next evolution of television will feature Internet-connected hardware with a selection of software available in a method like Apple's iPhone App Store.
Except in this case- make it totally open.
Quite apart from anything else, look at AppleTV. Well executed within its limits, but the trouble is that the limits are much too tightly drawn. If it had an App store and the ability to record OTA TV I would use it much more, but as it is it just sits on the shelf and I use it once a month or so.
The product that gets most use in my house is the HD satellite (Freesat) PVR which doesn't do anything that AppleTV does, but what it does do is what I want to do most of the time - watch great TV that is either being broadcast live or that I have recorded previously.
Why don't they get it?
Human beings are not machines: we need to "veg out" at some point. Therefore a human will want at least one device in his house that is purely passive, even if all the others are interactive. And sorry TV manufacturers, that's you, by virtue of your device starting out as the endpoint of a broadcast medium.
What they need to think about is how to make a better passive device, instead of always trying to make their passive device interactive. The company that can do that will be successful, and the companies that keep trying to do the second will fail for the umpteenth time (based on past evidence).
No, Apple will make the AppleTV box more attractive, by offering TV on demand... but the real way. The same shows we all watch everyday, only you don't pay for cable, you pay for an iTunes Cable Subscription and download the 10 or 12 shows you watch anyway - without commercials, stream while you download, save to your iPod, etc.
I suspect that they will not tie this directly to the AppleTV, but just add it as an iTunes Store option, so those of us who choose not to buy an AppleTV will just need iTunes and way to play said media on your TV.
The TV "App Store" idea already exists in the form of the iTunes Store, the pricing is just not there yet. We'll see much better subscription service fee's offered once Apple announces the new financial deal they're coming to with the production studios.
Can't see them adding DVR, more likely a Hard Drive!
I have to agree. a DVR would cut into the iTunes store. Seems more likely they would go the other way and include things that would increase sales.
Also, I can't see them doing a full on TV. Adding such things to the Apple TV box and letting you use any TV you want seems more likely. And more practical. If I have a 40" tv now and get a 52" next year, I can just unhook/hook my ATV and go. Also, by modifying the ATV they could probably have it out a lot sooner than 2011.
Well Apple had better hurry up about it, because if they don't the market will be sewn up by the likes of Sony et al. Normally Apple can wait a bit and get into the market later by doing it better, but this time the consumer electronics behemoths may do the job well-enough and soon-enough to corner the opportunity. Certainly if there isn't any standards war one has to ask what Apple can add. And I say this a someone who expects Apple to produce a better product than anyone else and I will then preferentially buy it, but I really do fear they'll lose this one.
Quite apart from anything else, look at AppleTV. Well executed within its limits, but the trouble is that the limits are much too tightly drawn. If it had an App store and the ability to record OTA TV I would use it much more, but as it is it just sits on the shelf and I use it once a month or so.
The product that gets most use in my house is the HD satellite (Freesat) PVR which doesn't do anything that AppleTV does, but what it does do is what I want to do most of the time - watch great TV that is either being broadcast live or that I have recorded previously.
Why don't they get it?
Good comments. I don't think it's a matter of not getting it, I think it's more a matter of getting it right. If Apple can find a way to blow away the cable box (a device which I am sure Steve finds to be utterly offensive), then they've got something potentially very big. It has to be more than just applications running on the TV, it should change the way we interact with the TV, from the setup menus to the channel guides, the remote controls, and everything else that presently sucks. A new paradigm UI for the TV has to be the goal. I suspect they are working on this, somewhere deep in the labs at Apple.
Well Apple had better hurry up about it, because if they don't the market will be sewn up by the likes of Sony et al. Normally Apple can wait a bit and get into the market later by doing it better, but this time the consumer electronics behemoths may do the job well-enough and soon-enough to corner the opportunity. Certainly if there isn't any standards war one has to ask what Apple can add. And I say this a someone who expects Apple to produce a better product than anyone else and I will then preferentially buy it, but I really do fear they'll lose this one.
Quite apart from anything else, look at AppleTV. Well executed within its limits, but the trouble is that the limits are much too tightly drawn. If it had an App store and the ability to record OTA TV I would use it much more, but as it is it just sits on the shelf and I use it once a month or so.
The product that gets most use in my house is the HD satellite (Freesat) PVR which doesn't do anything that AppleTV does, but what it does do is what I want to do most of the time - watch great TV that is either being broadcast live or that I have recorded previously.
Why don't they get it?
Because Steve Jobs is obsessed with Apple control. Read this months Fortune magazine as it explains how it worked for the iPhone and failed on the AppleTV.
You've had it - for 3 years now- the AppleTV.
Yep. But I was thinking of something like the app store that's on the iPhone. With a BT keyboard. Sort of an interim step before making the tv a 'computer'
besides I hope they keep the 'hot plate' feature on the ATv.
and when you can buy an AppleTV for $229, who is going to pay a bigger premium extra price for an Apple HDTV instead? makes no business sense. if you have extra bucks to spend, instead you buy a bigger screen, which does make a real viewing difference.