Apple TV

Apple TV gets Watch ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle and KORTV

Apple on Wednesday added some new stations to its Apple TV. The main menu of the Apple TV now contains Watch ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle and KORTV.

Watch ABC is available in select cities with live and on-demand programming; Bloomberg is offering live business, finance and tech news for free; Crackle lets users watch TV and movies, although it seemed like old content to me; and KORTV gives you live Korean TV including top shows, movies, news, sports and music videos.

There is no download necessary to get the new stations, everything was pushed live by Apple.

Apple adds PBS, Yahoo Screen to Apple TV

Apple added two new stations to the Apple TV on Tuesday: PBS and Yahoo Screen. The PBS station will feature primetime shows, including Downton Abbey. The shows will be available on Apple TV a few hours after they air live. Yahoo Screen will feature clips from Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and others, as well as original Yahoo programming.

Google Chromecast: No thanks

Dan Nosowitz for Popular Science:

The Apple TV costs $95 on Amazon–a lot more money, sure. But you get a lot more for your money (great interface, stellar hardware, support for the enormously popular Apple store, the combination of apps and a slinging feature), and it’s also important to remember that these gadgets can help you get rid of cable entirely. An Apple TV costs about as much as one month’s worth of cable. Suck it up, guys. It’s not that expensive.

This isn’t to say that I’m not excited by Chromecast; I think slinging is exceptionally cool, and I think it’s great that this hardware so cheap and small. But I don’t necessarily think that a device that does exclusively slinging, no matter how cheap it is, is a viable option for most people. It’s best as part of a larger whole.

I agree with Dan. Google basically implemented Apple’s AirPlay, but that’s all Chromecast does. People expect more from an entertainment device in their home and this doesn’t give it to them. That’s not to say Google won’t sell a lot of them—they will, but that initial interest will fade because it doesn’t solve the problem we have with cable TV using a simplistic solution that everyone can use.

Apple TV’s market share

Interesting chart from Philip Elmer-Dewitt. So Apple’s hobby device is doing better than most people thought. Roku is doing very well too, but they make some great products.

Apple TV console

This is a smart article from Austin Sweeney. Where this whole thing is going, and when, is up in the air, but there is no doubt that stumbled into a great gaming device with the iPod touch. The big question for me is will it be easier for the console makers to convince the public they have an entertainment device or for Apple to convince the gamers they have a gaming device? The next couple of years are going to be very interesting.

Apple TV gets HBO GO and WatchESPN

Apple on Wednesday updated one of my favorite and most used products—Apple TV. In a software update released today, Apple added a number of new “channels” to the including including HBO GO and WatchESPN.

Amazon to compete with Apple TV

As it works to build all types of connected devices, that leaves a natural next step: a television set-top box. The e-commerce giant is planning to introduce a device this fall dedicated to streaming video over the Internet and into its customers’ living rooms.

This makes a lot of sense for Amazon and it would certainly be a bigger competitor than Google.

Stream HBO Go to your TV over AirPlay

Speaking at our D: Dive Into Media conference on Tuesday, HBO’s Eric Kessler said “effective today we will be enabling AirPlay” for HBO Go.

HBO still say they’re coming to Apple TV.

Apple TV updated

Apple updated its Apple TV software on Monday adding a number of new features. […]

The key to the Apple TV puzzle

There is an ongoing debate about whether Apple will release a physical television or an enhanced box similar to what we have now. People on both sides of the debate square off every few weeks and rehash the same arguments. Ultimately, we get nowhere, but I think that’s because nobody is asking the right question.

Tim Cook hints at Apple’s next big thing

Tim Cook:

“When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook told Williams. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.”

What Tim didn’t say is that Apple would be making their own television. His comments could be directed towards the content on the TV or how we interact with the device.

Apple TV update

Among the things we like in the new Apple TV software (in addition to the obligatory stability and performance fixes) is the ability to easily save multiple iTunes accounts and switch between them, support for Shared Photo Streams and AirPlay broadcasting from Apple TV to other devices

Sounds like a huge update.

An Amazon Apple TV competitor

However, the location of the announcement and its proximity to Hollywood has some speculating that there may be more. One of the possibilities being raised is more content for Amazon’s Prime Instant streaming service. Of course, there’s another option: What if Amazon announced a streaming video device to compete head-to-head with Apple TV, Roku and Google TV?

Apple TV

Analyst Andy Hargreaves said this morning that he believes an “Apple Television would be ‘extremely unlikely’ in the near term.” Not that I disagree with his assertion, but the way he arrived at it is a bit sketchy to me.

He came to the conclusion after a meeting with Apple’s Eddy Cue. Basically Cue said Apple will enter a market when its damn good and ready and there are problems with the current television setup. These are the same things Steve Jobs said publicly about television, so there is really nothing new there.

We also don’t know what “near term” is. Next week, next month, two years from now. Hargreaves note just seemed odd to me and not based on anything factual.

More details on the Apple TV

Apple aims to make it so viewers can watch any show at any time via a cloud-based DVR that would store TV shows online. The service would be designed so viewers could begin streaming a show minutes after it began airing live.

Where do I pay?

Apple TV for live broadcast television

Matthew Panzarino:

Apple has begun talks in preparation for a set-top box device that could be used to watch live TV as well as view other content, reports Jessica E. Vascellaro and Shalini Ramachandran at The Wall Street Journal.This would apparently be a new direction that would let Apple get a stronger presence in the living room It would involve them getting deals with cable providers, which the report says has not happened.

Hulu Plus on Apple TV

Arnold Kim:

Apple has quietly launched a Hulu Plus channel on Apple TV this morning.

You have to reboot for the channel to appear.

Apple TV outsells Xbox

Todd Bishop:

Apple sold 1.3 million Apple TV devices during the June quarter, an increase of 170 percent over the same quarter a year ago.That still qualifies as a “hobby,” according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who disclosed the number in response to an analyst’s question on the company’s earnings conference call. But here’s an interesting data point: Microsoft sold 1.1 million Xbox 360s worldwide during the same time period.

Doesn’t mean anything, but still interesting.

Apple’s television

My latest column on Techpinions:

Some people think Apple will release a television with new menus or Siri integration. I don’t believe they are thinking big enough. If Apple enters that market they will disrupt it and change it forever.

Drawing conclusions

John Gruber:

So the reason Apple TV doesn’t show up in Freewheel’s data is because it doesn’t show any ad-backed video. Freewheel’s data isn’t about online video watching — it’s specifically about ad-backed online video watching.

I don’t understand how people can draw conclusions from data like this. Gruber gets it right.

Review: Apple TV

I love my Apple TV. I love my new Apple TV even more.

I picked up the new Apple TV from Apple after the iPad event, so I’ve been using it for about a week now. […]