Today’s New York Times has an article that gives more credence to rumors that Apple is planning a major overhaul of its Apple TV product, only this time basing its living room approach on iOS.
While the initial rumors were of a low-cost, iOS-based device that would heavily utilize the cloud to stream content, The New York Times report indicates that Apple may also be planning to introduce a television product with iOS embedded into it, offering an out-of-the-box connected experience.
The strategy of leveraging the large and growing iOS ecosystem to deliver content to the television isn’t dissimilar from some of Google’s plans for Google TV. Google TV, which will be sold as a stand-alone set-top box and also integrate with television sets and Blu-ray players from Sony, is based on Android and will support third-party Android apps.
An iOS-based Apple TV product that could bring the growing number of App Store apps, like Netflix and Hulu, to the TV rather than the iPhone or iPad could be compelling.
In fact, such a strategy would address the single-biggest problem that the current Apple TV product has: access to non-iTunes content.
An App Store Strategy Rather than an iTunes Strategy
When Apple TV was first conceived and then launched, its goal was to bring the iTunes Store to the living room. In theory this was a great idea (especially if you go back to 2005, when Apple TV reportedly first entered development), but in practice it ended up saddling the product with some huge limitations.
Apple TV has always been too limited as a device. Despite its great concept and able hardware (for the time), out-of-the-box the device doesn’t really go far enough to serve as a media player or media center. Because the entire system is based around iTunes, you can only play files that play in iTunes. That means having to re-encode videos specifically for Apple TV and being stuck managing your entire music library from within iTunes.
However, the bigger problem with the iTunes-only ecosystem is that since 2007 or so, more and more commercial online content isn’t being delivered as files that we download and then watch, but via streaming services like Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly and TV.com. The only online video service supported by Apple TV has been YouTube and frankly, that’s just not enough — especially when you can get a Blu-ray player that also connects to Amazon.com, Netflix, Vudu and Pandora for under $200.
Enter the App Store. Existing connected TV offerings from companies like Boxee, Roku, DivX and others are all embracing the App Store approach that Apple has used to great success for its iOS products. More and more content publishers — large and small — are looking to get on the television set via the various app stores that the different connected TV solutions offer.
This is where an iOS-based television could be really perfect, because it has immediate access to some of the biggest players in the commercial content space. Even better, the end solution is still tied to iTunes, but not in a way that is as limiting.
The advantage here for Apple is that because a development platform already exists for iOS, it doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. I have a feeling Apple recognized that Apple TV suffered from lack of third-party connectivity not long after its release. After all, one of the only times that Apple actually mentioned an uptick in Apple TV sales was after Boxee made it dead-simple to install on an Apple TV (this was before Hulu subsequently banned Boxee from using its service). However, building in that sort of capability service by service is easier said than done and creating a whole new API or SDK just for Apple TV makes very little sense. What does make sense is to use iOS to power television devices and to include specific protocols for developers to make apps Apple TV compatible.
That’s exactly what Google is doing with Android and that’s one reason that developers believe Android has more long-term potential than iOS.
Competition is Fierce
When Apple TV was first released, its only real competitors were custom-configured HTPCs, TiVo and the XBox 360. Today, that list includes the PlayStation 3, set-top boxes like Roku and the upcoming Boxee Box, Internet-enabled television sets, a slew of Blu-ray players — the latest from Samsung will include Hulu Plus support — and of course, Google TV.
In the battle of the digital living room, there won’t necessarily be one winner — but diversification is what will be key for content creators and publishers, and for companies like Apple that want to have a stake in the game.
What do you think about an iOS-powered television or set-top box?
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