![]() The next generation of Apple TV has the potential to be the ultimate Handoff device, an always-on box that lets you seamlessly transfer media to your TV with little more than a tap of the remote on your Watch. And if I rent a movie on my Apple TV, I can’t transfer it at all. Or if I’m watching an episode of Game of Thrones on HBO Now, I need to pause it, open the app on my iPhone and find it in my Watchlist. Sure, we can stream games and movies with AirPlay, but for the most part, the sharing experience is far less seamless than it is on iOS and OS X.įor example, if I’m playing a game on my iPhone, I need pause it and turn on AirPlay mirroring if I want to transfer my progress to Apple TV. Continuous functionĮven with different operating systems, our Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Watches are more integrated than ever thanks to Apple’s Continuity feature in iOS 8 and Yosemite. HBO Now and Dish’s Sling TV have already put serious cracks in the foundation, but a significant investment from Apple would be the boost online television needs to break through and coupled with the on-demand content, an Apple-overhauled Beats subscription service, and the iTunes movies we already stream, such a service would certainly give Apple TV far greater prominence in our living rooms, paving the way for a multitude of advancements. Recent report from the Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is nearing a deal for a TV service with a couple dozen channels, including ABC, CBS, ESPN, FOX and presumably a few other popular basic cable mainstays such as Food Network and A&E. ![]() Negotiations have been rumored for years, and a Of course, Apple’s push for a TV service isn’t exactly breaking news. The Apple TV box hasn’t changed much since it launched, but it sounds like that’s about to change. As long as the likes of Comcast and Time Warner are acting as middlemen, Apple TV will always be a secondary device, relegated to the third or fourth input in our home theaters. During Apple’s second-quarter conference call, he signaled that the entertainment industry is “on the edge of major, major changes,” and while he was characteristically coy about his plans, he added, “I think Apple can be a part of that.” There may be some 60 channels currently playing on Apple TV, but to get anything resembling live television, you need to have a cable subscription first. Tim Cook certainly isn’t giving up on it. But even if we may never have an Apple symbol embossed on the back of a 50-inch HD screen, that doesn’t mean Jobs’ vision of “an integrated television set that is completely easy to use (and) would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud” won’t come to fruition. Walter Isaacson raised the specter of a flat-screen Apple television four years ago with a tantalizing quote from Jobs in his biography, but these days the idea of an Apple TV set falls just below a car on the feasibility scale.
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