Apple has been receiving a lot of fire lately for its lack of originality, with detractors claiming that each of their products copies earlier offerings by either the company or its competitors. Apple TV may just put those accusations to rest. According to reports, the tech titan’s new model Apple TV is designed to give Amazon’s Echo a run for its money. VentureBeat discovered that Apple has plans to construct an Amazon Echo-like device with a mic and speakers.
It’s unclear at the moment how exactly Apple will integrate this speaker into their new TV, but the new improvement could make Siri more powerful. With devices like Amazon Fire TV and Xbox One moving towards better voice-TV integration, Apple will have to play a bit of catch-up to get an advantage over their competitors.
Apple has been known for music for a long time, so it only makes sense that the company would be pursuing a voice-activated speaker. It’s also possible they could be making their Apple TVs more closely aligned with their mobile OS by offering a more in-depth Siri experience on their next-generation devices. Apple also reportedly considered buying out Time Warner Cable, possibly hinting that they are trying to take Apple TV in a direction more friendly to online movie and TV streaming.
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Apple Insider notes that Apple wants to make Apple TV their “hub of everything” since they’ve already invested a considerable amount of time and money into creating these devices. Could this mean we might see Apple TV get even more integrative features in the near future? We can only iMagine.
Apple’s website mentions the company’s opinion that “apps are the future of television,” probably meaning that’s where the company will focus most of its attention with regard to their TVs. Using apps to stream shows and movies is pretty much a given, but could that concept be taken even further? Google’s ChromeCast already lets people stream their music on their TV, so perhaps streaming everyday-use apps like WunderList and Evernote is the future of smart TVs? If so, this could equal a level of productivity unseen before on Smart TVs.
Tech Insider discovered that the new Apple TV is expected next year, just before the holiday season. While the core design will likely remain the same, adding an Echo-like speaker could give the TV lots of new capabilities, like perhaps playing music from an iPhone over Bluetooth.
Makes little sense as the device itself https://t.co/FNtb9boe3A
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) May 26, 2016
If the TV really is to become a hub for everything, there might also be tighter integration with the iTunes Store as well. This could mean users might one day, for instance, be able to start a movie from the store on one device and then simply stream it over to their TV and continue where they left off. While not exactly the same thing as Amazon’s Echo, the new Apple TV could be a viable competitor in the home entertainment industry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjBvgeT6vU8
The company has already begun advertising the new device, with some help from celebrities like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ( Game of Thrones ‘ Jaime Lannister). The commercial shows off the TV’s cool capabilities in a goofy-yet-lovable way when Waldau tries to seduce the maid sitting next to him by ordering Siri to play music by Jerimih.
Are you excited for Apple’s latest release next year?
[Photo by Stephen Lam/ Getty Images]
