imat

A great ad.

I am not so sure it is a smart idea for a carrier to run it, since they also sell other manufacturers smartphones. It is like bashing the rest of the deals you offer to customers.

"look, besides the iPhone we have all these other phones that shout your private information all over the place" but we push them, because the cut we get from the manufacturer is much higher. We even hype them, because they are "better and cheaper" believe me, I know. (also, because we get a higher bonus for selling them, but that I won't tell you)

The AppleTV is still a hobby for Apple.

It suffers the same problems, albeit a little less worse, than the HomePod.
(disclaimer, I own both devices).

What does the AppleTV do that is specific to the AppleTV, outside the US?

- In many countries the "Siri" remote button doesn't do anything because Siri is not available
- Photos is just a visualization system, and a crappy one at that. Map view, faces view, and the like are cumbersome to find and not easy to navigate.
- Integration of channels besides AppleTV+ in the same interface is really limited and poorly implemented compared to the US (I have bot an account in my country as well as a US account, so I can directly compare the two)
- Games are there, but there is no actual "focus on casual gaming" to speak of
- Considering the limited amount of devices, many TV broadcasters snub it or if they create an app it is poorly maintained (national broadcaster paid for with public funding)
- No maps
- No "Home" app where I can turn the lights on and off or fiddle with devices
- No FindMy where I can locate my other devices

All in all to subscribe to Netflix, Disney+ and AppleTV+ you don't need an AppleTV, just a relatively new smart TV. Why should I buy the AppleTV if my main purpose is subscribing to these services? What is the unique sales proposal of the AppleTV?

As said, I own 2 AppleTVs and I do pretty much ALL of my viewing on them, even live TV (national broadcast in my country launched their AppleTV app so I can watch them in the AppleTV). I got used to the interface, I like to have everything in one place (device). I am wary of SmartTVs snooping around my viewing habits and all sorts of information. I like a system with OS updates that make it constantly more secure than the SmartTV many of which don't get updates.

But the sales proposal, to the average person, considering the price of the device, is really hard to justify.

Also: Siri sucks. Not because of "whatever" but try to be a person who speaks a language different than english. Set Siri in, I don't know, italian, french, german. And then try to play a song by pronouncing artist and song in english. Siri doesn't get it. Try to have a contact in english on your phone and pronounce it in english, Siri will randomly look something up on the internet (I found this on the internet) or call whatever contact it feels fit.

It all starts with a real focus on international markets and languages. From the content, to the ability of Siri to understand more than one language simultaneously, to a better integration of things like "stocks", "clocks", "home", and other standard apps that one could access from the AppleTV. 

The screenshots seem very "un-Apple". Too many options to activate and deactivate, way too confusing. I honestly hope this isn't the direction Apple chooses for the future. Many of these "options" shouldn't be options at all. 120 Hz? OK, but make it across the board as standard. Why give options buried in the settings menu?

The same applies for the camera options. Way too many options. Make them "smart" and "standard" and that's about it.

If someone has a "pro Camera" app of some sorts, that they purchased separately, give them the ability to toggle settings, but not everyone.

The setup process of a new iPhone will otherwise become EVEN LONGER and cumbersome. With the result people will have to spend 20' checking and unchecking stuff, privacy, alerts, locations, camera settings and the like before even starting to use the iPhone. 

Tencent owns 40% of Epic. The connection is obvious. Payback in the form of generating chaos seems obvious to me. Also, how much does Tencent charge on WeChat (just curious).

Restructuring by dividing the entities is the first step in evaluating the sale of single entities. Always has been and always will be. It makes it easier to "outsource" manufacturing and keeping IP and design in house.