Disney CEO & Apple board member Bob Iger calls Apple TV best television interface ever

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited December 2015
The ease of use of the Apple TV is a good thing for content creators, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said in an interview on Monday, praising Apple for creating what he believes is the most intuitive television user interface ever.




Iger's high praise came in an interview with Bloomberg, where he was asked about potential future collaborations between Disney and Apple. While Iger declined to reveal any future plans between the two mega-corporations, he did say that Disney has a great working relationship with Apple, and he expects that to continue.

He also sees the new fourth-generation Apple TV as a good thing for Disney, based on how user friendly it is. He said devices that offer a better consumer experience are ultimately good news for content creators such as Disney.

"This may sound like a blatant commercial for Apple, but the Apple TV box and the interface that it provides is the best user experience I have seen, ever, for television users," Iger said. "As an intellectual property creator or as a content creator, that's great news for us."


Source: Bloomberg.


Iger's endorsement of the Apple TV should come as no surprise --?the Disney CEO serves on the Apple board of directors, and late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was Disney's largest individual shareholder, thanks to the acquisition of Pixar.

Still, the ringing endorsement from Iger bodes well for the future of the Apple TV and its new tvOS App Store, which is dependent on content from third-party creators. Disney is one of the biggest names in entertainment, responsible for content from Pixar, Marvel Studios, the blockbuster "Star Wars" franchise, the ABC family of networks, and much more.

Iger has served on the Apple Board of directors since 2011. He also owns millions of dollars' worth of AAPL stock.

djkfisher
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 47
    croprcropr Posts: 1,139member
    Did they let somebody else enter the password, because that part is by far the worst on the market?
  • Reply 2 of 47
    rogifan_oldrogifan_old Posts: 725member
    sog35 said:
    cropr said:
    Did they let somebody else enter the password, because that part is by far the worst on the market?
    GTFO.  Go use the remote app
    Considering it wasn't available when the TV first launched perhaps not everyone knows it's available?

    Since Iger is an Apple board member I wouldn't expect him to be anything other than positive, but I wouldn't call a grid of apps to the the best interface ever. Seriously the TV interface could be so much better. And I hope it will get better over time.
  • Reply 3 of 47
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,301member
    sog35 said:
    cropr said:
    Did they let somebody else enter the password, because that part is by far the worst on the market?
    GTFO.  Go use the remote app
    No, you GTFO and stop being such a cry baby when people have legitimate thoughts about Apple when they are negative. Pretty much almost everyone said it sucked with the logins when the Apple TV came out. Because it did. Deal with it.
    napoleon_phoneapartcaliredgeminipa
  • Reply 4 of 47
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member
    Have to agree. Inputing a password with that remote was soul sucking. Why should you have to own and use an iPhone or iPad to make AppleTV useable?
    Now I have turned up the sensitivity on the remote, it doesn't take 1 full swipe to move 1 place. 1 swipe moves it a bit more like I was expecting.
    Still works less well than the old D pad on the previous remote.

    cali
  • Reply 5 of 47
    why-why- Posts: 305member
    I still prefer the old rabbit-ears TV interface
  • Reply 6 of 47
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    cropr said:
    Did they let somebody else enter the password, because that part is by far the worst on the market?
    its not a big deal. it took me 5 minutes then i moved on with my life.

    the cursor accelerates w/ a faster swipe, so its easy. and you can click-and-hold to shift case. it's really not a big deal at all except to the tech forum whiners who want everything to meet their own needs perfectly at all times.
    applepieguy
  • Reply 7 of 47
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member

    sirlance99 said:
    sog35 said:
    GTFO.  Go use the remote app
    No, you GTFO and stop being such a cry baby when people have legitimate thoughts about Apple when they are negative. Pretty much almost everyone said it sucked with the logins when the Apple TV came out. Because it did. Deal with it.
    it doesnt suck, its just different. do you honestly think using the grid of characters was much better? it wasnt. data entry on a remote is always a pain point. the accelerated swiping on the new ATV is about the same as the clicking a grid on the old ATV.
  • Reply 8 of 47
    techprod1gytechprod1gy Posts: 838member
    Apple screwed up the initial set up experience big time as some have suggested already. And to take that long to update the remote app? WTF Apple. This is called being successful and cocky. Apple has a long way to go in the customer experience area. Sure they are better than most but that does not make a bit of difference as we have come to expect more from them.
  • Reply 9 of 47
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member

    evilution said:
    Have to agree. Inputing a password with that remote was soul sucking. Why should you have to own and use an iPhone or iPad to make AppleTV useable?
    Now I have turned up the sensitivity on the remote, it doesn't take 1 full swipe to move 1 place. 1 swipe moves it a bit more like I was expecting.
    Still works less well than the old D pad on the previous remote.

    incorrect. ive never adjusted my remote, and it does not take 1 full swipe to move 1 place. thats just false. it supports accelerated swipes out of the box.
    redgeminipaapplepieguy
  • Reply 10 of 47
    deepkiddeepkid Posts: 97member
    he's smoking that shit.
  • Reply 11 of 47
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    sirlance99 said:
    sog35 said:
    GTFO.  Go use the remote app
    No, you GTFO and stop being such a cry baby when people have legitimate thoughts about Apple when they are negative. Pretty much almost everyone said it sucked with the logins when the Apple TV came out. Because it did. Deal with it.
    This from a member of the “I returned this piece of crap” society of malcontents. And only this crowd said it sucked because, well, everything sucks for this crowd.
    thepixeldocapplepieguy
  • Reply 12 of 47
    rogifan_oldrogifan_old Posts: 725member
    techprod1gy said:
    Apple screwed up the initial set up experience big time as some have suggested already. And to take that long to update the remote app? WTF Apple. This is called being successful and cocky. Apple has a long way to go in the customer experience area. Sure they are better than most but that does not make a bit of difference as we have come to expect more from them.
    I have to agree. Jason Snell talked about this on one of his podcasts. He talked about how perfect and considered Apple's packaging is but the unboxing experience doesn't end after the product is pulled out of the box. Apple needs to get a lot better and product set up. First impressions are very important and the first impressions with TV 4 were not great. At a minimum the remote app should have been ready at launch. And Apple should have worked with content providers so there was an easy way to authenticate out of the gate. Some providers lIke HBO and ESPN have you go to a website to log in with your credentials and then type in a code to activate. They should all work this way. Another thing TV 4 should have supported out of the gate: voice dictation. Using that swipe pad to hunt and peck for letters and numbers is not a great experience.
    cali
  • Reply 13 of 47
    hmlongcohmlongco Posts: 557member
    Some of it's good, but others?

    1) Password setup sucks. Especially shipping w/o keyboard access.

    2) Watch episode 3 of an iTunes TV series. Now, try to watch the next episode... You pretty much have to bail out of the series and go back in for the TV app to update "Watch Ep 3" to "Watch Ep 4".

    3) Why in the hell is it when you're watching an episode in the middle of a series and you go down from the watch button to the episode list does it start at Series 1, Episode 1? Take me to my current location in the list, please.

    4) Netflix issue, but I have a hundred or so movies in "My List" which it now only lets me browse in a single row four or five titles at a time.... painful.
    cali
  • Reply 14 of 47
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Maybe I'm in the minority but really don't see what the big deal about entering passwords is. The swipe method is way better compared to the grid method on ATV3. I agree with Iger. The interface on the new Apple TV is much better compared to the competition. I have a Fire TV and have used a Roku many times. The interface on ATV4 is so much better. 
    edited December 2015 redgeminipaapplepieguy
  • Reply 15 of 47
    OutdoorAppDeveloperOutdoorAppDeveloper Posts: 1,293member
    I find the new AppleTV remote to be difficult to use and finnecy. Apple's overall UI is just like all the others more or less. There is not a whole lot you can do with a bunch of tiles in a rectangle. I think Plex does a better job of organizing media but I bet Iger has never tried it for comparison.
  • Reply 16 of 47
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,163member
    ...siri seems to want to take me by default from my prepaid netflix films to the itunes pay per view option... ...good for apple, not so much for me...?
  • Reply 17 of 47
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,683member
    Talk about the iPod calling the iPhone white!
  • Reply 18 of 47
    bdkennedy1002bdkennedy1002 Posts: 543member
    I hope Apple has some magic program guide in the works because having to open every TV app to see what's on is not going to work.
  • Reply 19 of 47
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    why- said:
    I still prefer the old rabbit-ears TV interface
    The dial with it's very satisfying clicks: such a NICE, secure feeling....
  • Reply 20 of 47
    serendipserendip Posts: 93member
    I'm a huge Apple fan but I don't know about best interface ever...

    I've been playing with the new Apple TV for about 3 weeks now and the keyboard is just horrible.  It's a linear left right layout and the touchpad lets you swipe to select the letters.  It overshoots or undershoots about 95% of the time and then you have to concentrate to fine tune the selection because you end up overshooting and undershooting over and over again.  It's like a bad golfer chipping onto a small green.  You end up going over the target again and again.  

    It really sucks in my opinion.

    Even compared to the standard up/down/left/right layouts of television keyboards, the Apple TV linear accelerated keyboard is a disaster.  At least with the standard keyboards you can look at the layout and know that left,left,up, up, left (for instance) will get you to 'q' and then you hit right, right, down to get to 'd'.  It's a horrible pain to use as you end up hitting the keys about 100 times to type in your 8 character password but I still think it's better then this new Apple TV interface.

    They should try to use the gyroscope in my opinion.  Lay out the keyboard in 2D and then let the user point to the characters by tilting the controller and then pressing the touchpad to select.  It won't be perfect but it'll be faster and easier than this current method.

    Otherwise I love it.  I need a good app that supports lots of different formats and can stream from my NAS devices in my closet.  Otherwise it's pretty much everything I wanted.
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