Ever since the first model of the Apple TV went on sale in 2007, it has been the best way to get content from your Apple devices on your TV. The last big update to the Apple TV was in 2012, although there was a minor update in 2013. On September 9, 2015, at the same time that Apple introduced the iPhone 6s and the iPad Pro, Apple announced the new version of the Apple TV. Yesterday, during an interview at the Wall Street Journal Digital Live conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple would start taking orders for the new Apple TV on Monday, October 26, and said that the device would start shipping by the end of the week. There will be a $149 model with 32 GB, and a $199 model with 64 GB.
The new Apple TV will have a fresh new interface, and thanks to its use of the Apple A8 chip (the same chip used in last year’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus) it will be substantially faster and more responsive than the prior model of the Apple TV (which used an A5, the chip that was in the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4s). It will come with a new remote that has a touch pad and buttons for common functions. Early reviews indicate that the touch pad will be very precise for scrubbing through shows, and I hope that this is true. Fast-forward and rewind on the current Apple TV always seems to me to be difficult to control, and never gets me exactly where I wanted to go.
One of the buttons on the new remote will trigger Siri. Just hold down the button and tell the TV what you are looking for, such as the name of a movie or a TV show, or a particular actor or genre. At launch, Apple TV will be able to search Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime and iTunes. You can also use Siri to ask questions or give commans, such as “who directed this movie” or “fast forward two minutes.” One neat feature: you can ask Siri “what did he (or she) just say” and the show will not only rewind 15 seconds but will also temporarily turn on closed captioning so that you can read the words on the screen as well as hear the words again. Very neat.
The new Apple TV also supports third party apps. I’m sure that we will see lots of games on the Apple TV, just l like we have a huge number of games on the iPhone and iPad. I don’t currently have a game console in my house; in fact, it occurs to me that I haven’t had a game system hooked up to my own television since I had an Atari 2600 and a ColecoVision in the early 1980s. I doubt that the Apple TV will support the sophisticated games that can be played consoles like the PlayStation and Xbox, but my guess is that the games that Apple TV supports will still be plenty fun. I’m just as interested to see what non-game apps are introduced for the Apple TV. As Tim Cook said yesterday: “Apps are the future … things that you want to do on a larger screen. Games are a part of it, but there are many other genres.”
The Apple TV has always been a nice way to show off something on the iPhone or iPad on a large screen so that it can be shared with others. And if you have a Mac at your house, the Apple TV has always been a great way to show off your home movies, photographs and other media. With the new features that will be available starting next week, the Apple TV has the potential to be much, much more.