When Jobs called Apple TV a hobby Tim Cook kept SJ's word. Apple TV is mockingly ancient and years behind the times. It still uses elements of Apple's Aqua UI dating back to OS X 10.4. Samsung is the leader in TV UIs and as I've said before Apple has a decade of catching up to do. Apple TV streams well but its UI is embarrassingly old and clunky.
I got the Roku stick (after I gave away my $20 FireTV stick) so that I can watch Amazon Instant Videos. But the Roku has to constantly buffer every few seconds, and that is after it takes quite a bit of time to connect to Amazon. But it turns out that it is now much easier to stream Amazon Videos from my iPhone to the Apple TV.
Fourth place with decent numbers for a hobby product that receives zero advertising/promotion budget isn't too bad. Not too bad for not even trying.
I don't think so. For much of the time the Fire TV and Roku were only sold in the U.S. . In order to get a fair comparison with the current situation we'd have to break the units down by players and players lite ( so Chromecast, Fire TV Stick, etc ...). You might get a better picture for the Apple TV. Still, Apple is really pushing it when it comes to the Apple TV and the Mac Mini.
Hopefully they are taking the time to get things right. Unfortunately their software releases on the Mac side have anything but stellar for the past few years. Bugs, wifi problems, DNS issues, smb issues, iTunes issues, etc ...
Apple doesn't have inspiring leaders, especially the CEO. While things have gone well, from a financial view, recently their product lineup has been somewhat boring. You can only milk a phone for so long. The watch may or may not turn out to be a useful item. Apart from that we get thinner products and other awe inspiring tune ups. They need to get their acts together and most importantly put someone inspiring in as CEO.
Apple doesn't have inspiring leaders, especially the CEO. While things have gone well, from a financial view, recently their product lineup has been somewhat boring. You can only milk a phone for so long. The watch may or may not turn out to be a useful item. Apart from that we get thinner products and other awe inspiring tune ups. They need to get their acts together and most importantly put someone inspiring in as CEO.
Give me a F'n break. There's only one Jobs and he isn't coming back.
Give me a F'n break. There's only one Jobs and he isn't coming back.
What does Steve Jobs have to do with anything? I just think that the current CEO is a very competent manager/engineer but not a particularly inspiring leader.
Apple TV 4 better be at least equal to or better then Roku 3 in content and software. It been over 3 years since a new hardware been release and software has been update incrementally but content has stalled!
What does Steve Jobs have to do with anything? I just think that the current CEO is a very competent manager/engineer but not a particularly inspiring leader.
I don't think that Cook is the problem, I just think that they need more talent at the top so that every year they have the people to work on updating each product. So that the iPad Mini doesn't have to wait while the work on the iPad Pro and apple watch. So that the Mac Pro gets updated at least every other year. Personally I like the look of the HTC One M7-M8 better than the flat iPhone 6/6+. I would love to see a second style of iPhone introduced (maybe released in Feb of each year) - I love my iPhone because of iOS, the apple ecosystem, touchId, and overall hardware quality. Cook will never be Jobs, but no one else will ever be Jobs, including Jony Ive who is being just a little over glorified. I fear that Apple is working on a car because its such a big undertaking that it can really drain resources from other products/projects. (How long till we hear about the Samsung car I wonder?)
Not bad for a product that hasn't been updated since Harry Truman was president. I often forget mine is in the entertainment cabinet, what with all the options my TiVo Roamio provides.
unless it has an option to play my iTunes purchases, he TiVo doesn't have as many useful options...for us.
Sales are slipping because the current AppleTV stinks. If I want to find a specific movie or show, I must separately search EVERY channel. Steve would not be pleased.
funny, because it worked the exact same way when he was alive. guess you don't know him that well after all.
Hobby my ass. This is nothing but typical Apple benign neglect.
Other than sharing the the odd AirPlay video from someone's iPhone/iPad, anymore we only use our Apple TVs for Netflix and MLB.tv. If Roku would ever pull their collective heads out and get a decent Netflix interface on their box (and TBH Apple's isn't much better) we'd switch in a heartbeat.
typical neglect! yes, the neglect typical of a company selling the most CE devices, with the highest user satisfaction ratings in the world, and bleeding profit every quarter. so typical.
and you go on to say you use yours all the time because the others aren't as good. classic.
I just think that they need more talent at the top so that every year they have the people to work on updating each product. So that the iPad Mini doesn't have to wait while the work on the iPad Pro and apple watch. So that the Mac Pro gets updated at least every other year.
It’s not a matter of talent.
What, do you think the current teams are incapable of putting the A8 in the iPad Mini? Do you think the current teams are incapable of designing a new Mac Pro logic board every year?
It’s a matter of third parties.
Intel doesn’t release server chips that quickly. Chip makers can’t make ENOUGH of the newest A chips to meet demand. Apple doesn’t make everything they sell. If a component is held back, that’s not within their power to change.
If you want to talk about a matter of talent, you could call for Apple to have a team working on creating RAM that only powers what is in use. That way they could put 64 gigs of RAM in an iPhone and not have to worry about the power draw. They probably don’t do this because such a thing would have to be a standard, no one else would adopt it, and Apple would be left in the lurch with exceedingly expensive technology that they can’t ‘economy of scale’ into a price drop.
What, do you think the current teams are incapable of putting the A8 in the iPad Mini? Do you think the current teams are incapable of designing a new Mac Pro logic board every year?
No you got what I was trying to say wrong. I mean a few more people at the top with even more talented people for their teams so more progress can go on in parallel each year. I'd like to see more guys like Mansfield and Federighi.
For the most part I believe that Apple's great quality reflects the work of excellent people. I kind of think that they brought in the "Man From Flash" to do the Watch OS shows that they did not have the people in-house who could step up without hurting development elsewhere.
Maybe if they had a few more we would have also had a 4inch iPhone6 mini last year.
No, I didn't know him, but i know there were only one or two channels that showed movies (iTunes and Netflix) back then. The Channel icon metaphor is broken. Something more along the lines of TiVo search is a better idea.
No, I didn't know him, but i know there were only one or two channels that showed movies (iTunes and Netflix) back then. The Channel icon metaphor is broken. Something more along the lines of TiVo search is a better idea.
sure, I don't refute that. what I refute is bringing out the ghost of steve jobs by people who paradoxically claim to know what he would think, while having never met him.
Here's what I do know. I've read in a dozen places that Jobs had an unrelenting desire for details. I've read that he sent products back to the lab because they didn't look or feel right, or because software required a click here when he preferred it there. In retrospect, it appears that he was a pretty good judge of hardware and software design. So when I learn that I must spend twenty minutes conducting a new search in a dozen different AppleTV channels just to find the one movie that my wife and want to watch, I believe I'm not far off base to draw my original conclusion.
So, with all due respect to the close relationship that you might have had with him, I'll stick with my original presumption. Steve would not be pleased.
Here's what I do know. I've read in a dozen places that Jobs had an unrelenting desire for details. I've read that he sent products back to the lab because they didn't look or feel right, or because software required a click here when he preferred it there. In retrospect, it appears that he was a pretty good judge of hardware and software design. So when I learn that I must spend twenty minutes conducting a new search in a dozen different AppleTV channels just to find the one movie that my wife and want to watch, I believe I'm not far off base to draw my original conclusion.
So, with all due respect to the close relationship that you might have had with him, I'll stick with my original presumption. Steve would not be pleased.
Jobs wasn't perfect: Hockey puck mouse, mobile me, iPod hifi.
Universal search may not be in Apple's control. Perhaps App creators would rather be separate than grouped with other competitors.
Comments
I got the Roku stick (after I gave away my $20 FireTV stick) so that I can watch Amazon Instant Videos. But the Roku has to constantly buffer every few seconds, and that is after it takes quite a bit of time to connect to Amazon. But it turns out that it is now much easier to stream Amazon Videos from my iPhone to the Apple TV.
I don't think so. For much of the time the Fire TV and Roku were only sold in the U.S. . In order to get a fair comparison with the current situation we'd have to break the units down by players and players lite ( so Chromecast, Fire TV Stick, etc ...). You might get a better picture for the Apple TV. Still, Apple is really pushing it when it comes to the Apple TV and the Mac Mini.
Hopefully they are taking the time to get things right. Unfortunately their software releases on the Mac side have anything but stellar for the past few years. Bugs, wifi problems, DNS issues, smb issues, iTunes issues, etc ...
Apple doesn't have inspiring leaders, especially the CEO. While things have gone well, from a financial view, recently their product lineup has been somewhat boring. You can only milk a phone for so long. The watch may or may not turn out to be a useful item. Apart from that we get thinner products and other awe inspiring tune ups. They need to get their acts together and most importantly put someone inspiring in as CEO.
Give me a F'n break. There's only one Jobs and he isn't coming back.
What does Steve Jobs have to do with anything? I just think that the current CEO is a very competent manager/engineer but not a particularly inspiring leader.
I love to be able to use. Apple apps on Apple TV.
What does Steve Jobs have to do with anything? I just think that the current CEO is a very competent manager/engineer but not a particularly inspiring leader.
I don't think that Cook is the problem, I just think that they need more talent at the top so that every year they have the people to work on updating each product. So that the iPad Mini doesn't have to wait while the work on the iPad Pro and apple watch. So that the Mac Pro gets updated at least every other year. Personally I like the look of the HTC One M7-M8 better than the flat iPhone 6/6+. I would love to see a second style of iPhone introduced (maybe released in Feb of each year) - I love my iPhone because of iOS, the apple ecosystem, touchId, and overall hardware quality. Cook will never be Jobs, but no one else will ever be Jobs, including Jony Ive who is being just a little over glorified. I fear that Apple is working on a car because its such a big undertaking that it can really drain resources from other products/projects. (How long till we hear about the Samsung car I wonder?)
unless it has an option to play my iTunes purchases, he TiVo doesn't have as many useful options...for us.
funny, because it worked the exact same way when he was alive. guess you don't know him that well after all.
typical neglect! yes, the neglect typical of a company selling the most CE devices, with the highest user satisfaction ratings in the world, and bleeding profit every quarter. so typical.
and you go on to say you use yours all the time because the others aren't as good. classic.
It’s not a matter of talent.
What, do you think the current teams are incapable of putting the A8 in the iPad Mini? Do you think the current teams are incapable of designing a new Mac Pro logic board every year?
It’s a matter of third parties.
Intel doesn’t release server chips that quickly. Chip makers can’t make ENOUGH of the newest A chips to meet demand. Apple doesn’t make everything they sell. If a component is held back, that’s not within their power to change.
If you want to talk about a matter of talent, you could call for Apple to have a team working on creating RAM that only powers what is in use. That way they could put 64 gigs of RAM in an iPhone and not have to worry about the power draw. They probably don’t do this because such a thing would have to be a standard, no one else would adopt it, and Apple would be left in the lurch with exceedingly expensive technology that they can’t ‘economy of scale’ into a price drop.
It’s not a matter of talent.
What, do you think the current teams are incapable of putting the A8 in the iPad Mini? Do you think the current teams are incapable of designing a new Mac Pro logic board every year?
No you got what I was trying to say wrong. I mean a few more people at the top with even more talented people for their teams so more progress can go on in parallel each year. I'd like to see more guys like Mansfield and Federighi.
For the most part I believe that Apple's great quality reflects the work of excellent people. I kind of think that they brought in the "Man From Flash" to do the Watch OS shows that they did not have the people in-house who could step up without hurting development elsewhere.
Maybe if they had a few more we would have also had a 4inch iPhone6 mini last year.
No, I didn't know him, but i know there were only one or two channels that showed movies (iTunes and Netflix) back then. The Channel icon metaphor is broken. Something more along the lines of TiVo search is a better idea.
sure, I don't refute that. what I refute is bringing out the ghost of steve jobs by people who paradoxically claim to know what he would think, while having never met him.
Here's what I do know. I've read in a dozen places that Jobs had an unrelenting desire for details. I've read that he sent products back to the lab because they didn't look or feel right, or because software required a click here when he preferred it there. In retrospect, it appears that he was a pretty good judge of hardware and software design. So when I learn that I must spend twenty minutes conducting a new search in a dozen different AppleTV channels just to find the one movie that my wife and want to watch, I believe I'm not far off base to draw my original conclusion.
So, with all due respect to the close relationship that you might have had with him, I'll stick with my original presumption. Steve would not be pleased.
Jobs wasn't perfect: Hockey puck mouse, mobile me, iPod hifi.
Universal search may not be in Apple's control. Perhaps App creators would rather be separate than grouped with other competitors.
Perhaps I don’t care what they want.
If iOS can get in-app search straight from iOS’s Springboard search, the Apple TV can do the same.