Apple hires former head of Amazon's Fire TV unit to lead Apple TV operations
Apple is shaking up its Apple TV operating unit with the hire of Timothy D. Twerdahl, the former head of Amazon's Fire TV team who will fill a similar role in Cupertino, a report said Tuesday.
Citing sources familiar with Twerdahl's hire, Bloomberg reports the former Amazon executive joined Apple in February to head Apple TV product marketing, a position reporting to worldwide iOS marketing chief Greg Joswiak.
Twerdahl served as Amazon's general manager and director of Fire TV operations from 2013 to December of last year, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he worked a brief stint on an Internet TV team at Netflix that ultimately became Roku. From 2009 to 2012, Twerdahl was VP of products at smartwatch startup WIMM Labs.
At Apple, Twerdahl is expected to take over product development while outgoing Apple TV product lead Pete Distad shifts focus to content deal efforts under SVP Eddy Cue. Apple has long been rumored to launch an over-the-top content bundle for its set-top box, but negotiations with content owners have in large part stymied those efforts.
Since the fourth-generation Apple TV launched in 2015, development of the platform has been slow going. Most recently, Apple took baby steps toward integrating a one-stop streaming solution with the debut of TV, an app that acts as a convenient hub for available content.
Citing sources familiar with Twerdahl's hire, Bloomberg reports the former Amazon executive joined Apple in February to head Apple TV product marketing, a position reporting to worldwide iOS marketing chief Greg Joswiak.
Twerdahl served as Amazon's general manager and director of Fire TV operations from 2013 to December of last year, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he worked a brief stint on an Internet TV team at Netflix that ultimately became Roku. From 2009 to 2012, Twerdahl was VP of products at smartwatch startup WIMM Labs.
At Apple, Twerdahl is expected to take over product development while outgoing Apple TV product lead Pete Distad shifts focus to content deal efforts under SVP Eddy Cue. Apple has long been rumored to launch an over-the-top content bundle for its set-top box, but negotiations with content owners have in large part stymied those efforts.
Since the fourth-generation Apple TV launched in 2015, development of the platform has been slow going. Most recently, Apple took baby steps toward integrating a one-stop streaming solution with the debut of TV, an app that acts as a convenient hub for available content.
Comments
Sad, considering Apple created the market for this product segment.
So no, nothing mediocre about it.
I just dontknow what after waitinh for what 2-3 years why didn't it ship like THIS then?
anywat from someone who was also deeply unimpressed I too had a laundry list of complaints but it is better with these new rounds of betas.
Hope me that helps. <GRIN>
But yes, that remote. If falls in the floor we have to wrestle it off the cat, and it's ridiculously hard to pick up (the remote, not the cat – though the cat's overweight so it's pretty hard to pick up too)
#firstworldproblems
I think the 4th gen Apple TV is the best one they've ever released. The remote make it easy to swipe through lists, love that it's Lightning with a rechargeable Li-Ion battery and BT, Siri works well quick access, CEC is flawless, and I'm amazed at how quickly the things reboots. I also love how easy it is to setup and sync accounts compared to previous Apple TVs.
That said, I do have some expected and unexpected gripes. The expected gripes are the lack of 2160p, 60fps, or HDR support, which means I use my TV's Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube apps instead of the Apple TV to get the better quality content from those select services. The unexpected gripes are infrequent app and system issues. One of the most common is it stops responded to the BT and IR remotes which forces me to grab my iPhone for the Remote app or physically unplug the device. It's only about a once a week average and reboots in under 30(?) seconds, but this never happened with the previous models.
All in all, I can't imagine going back to the 3rd gen Apple TV.
I would think something like the A10X would support 4K resolutions at 60fps.
This product has the potential to do so much more and yet it just seems to sit there stagnate. This really could be one of the bigger things Apple does if they put some time and effort into it. It shouldn't be a "hobby" anymore for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StIcRH_e6zQ
Problem is it shipped with an outdated A8 chip.
It's great for streaming content especially if you don't own a smart TV.
But I don't understand why they added gaming if it's barely capable of running 2006 Wii quality games at a decent frame rate.
Don't underestimate the console market. A lot of people only have a console and have zero interest in an additional streaming device.
And, I'm still not really a fan of the interface. This thing has been through what 3 or 4 UI changes and I still don't think Apple got it right. Really, the best thing I've used it for is streaming my music to my surround sound system when I want to listen to music. Its a real shame because I think it has so much potential but right now its kinda just a dust collector.
Compare to the Fire TV stick. Or that there are TVs running android that work with AirPlay, or that I can get a projector running Android.
I mean come on, get an Apple Projector already. One that will pick up live TV and automatically run some version of TVOS, which should be licensable anyway.