An Early Look at tvOS 13

Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2019/06/10/an-early-look-at-tvos-13/

“Take Control of Apple TV” author Josh Centers offers a sneak peek at what’s to come in tvOS 13, the most consequential tvOS update in years.

I get the feeling that the TV app is supposed to replace the TV hardware and that tvOS 13 is just to let folks used to what will be in the TV app. If the future of TV is an app pre-installed on certain brands and models of TVs, that will leave a lot of us out in the cold. I’m thinking I should “stock up” on TV 4K units before Apple kills them.

I don’t think so, as the physical ATV boxes have additional functionalities that the ATV apps on TV’s don’t: eg. separate apps (and app store).

Also, at the moment TV’s only have “Movies”, “TV Shows”, and “Airplay 2”, with only one brand (AFAIR, Sony?) also adding “HomeKit” functionality.

So a physical ATV box still has all these, plus extra non TV.app apps.

…I know right; confusing! :expressionless:

Smart TVs have also notoriously sent private viewing information back to their servers. For that reason I won’t attach any TV to my network; and, honestly, I think Apple is in the Apple TV business for a while to come.

Also, Apple just announced the Arcade service. No way the Apple TV box is going away anytime soon.

Actually, they announced that back in March, when they also said they would be providing Smart TV’s with a native AppleTV app, starting with Samsung. I suspect Apple will watch how all that goes in determining if and when to deprecate the AppleTV box going forward.

I get the feeling that the TV app is supposed to replace the TV hardware and that tvOS 13 is just to let folks used to what will be in the TV app. If the future of TV is an app pre-installed on certain brands and models of TVs, that will leave a lot of us out in the cold. I’m thinking I should “stock up” on TV 4K units before Apple kills them.

I doubt if this will happen anytime soon. So far, the Apple TV app will be available on on the latest, and IIFC, higher end TVs. There are literally billions of pre-20019 and low to mid range TVs out out in the wild, that will not run the app, and this is too big a potential source of revenue for services like the soon to be released TV+ and gaming service that Apple is unlikely to ignore. And IFIC, they’ll be rolling out the app in many other countries as well; people in these markets with older or less expensive TVs are great targets for these services as well.

Keep in mind that Apple kept selling iPods for many years after iPhone debuted. It was only after they released iTunes and a Windows version that iPod and iTunes sales went through the roof. My guess is that there will be not quite as long time span before Apple TV hardware bites the dust than iPod did, but it will be around for quite a while.

Yes, in March. That’s still just announced to me, and it still hasn’t started yet.

One thing they did just announce is support for the PlayStation 4 and XBox controllers on Apple TV. These don’t seem like moves if they are thinking about dropping the box

The prime purpose of adding the TV app to third party televisions is to facilitate and encourage uptake of their upcoming AppleTV+ subscription service.

That’ll be it, pretty well, for quite some time. The televisions are just not that ‘smart’ yet.

And also to convince Android and Windows hardware owners to switch to Macs and iOS devices.

I’m joining the others in their “Majority Opinion” here. :wink:

Consider the countless TVs that people have at home, which do not yet support AppleTV+, and how important that service is to Apple. Want to sign up? Just add this little, unobtrusive, and reasonably priced box to your home theater setup, and you’re good to go!

Come to think of it, if AppleTV+ really takes off, I’d expect Apple to lower the price of the highest-tier AppleTV hardware to lower the adoption threshold even more. Maybe $99? That’s probably the “I don’t really have to think this purchase through” price tag for a lot of tech fans.

So much easier to justify that kind of investment than purchasing a new TV for hundreds of $$$.

This is true, but Apple TV hardware isn’t going to just be about watching stuff on TV for very much longer. It’s going to also run PlayStation and Xbox games and their handheld devices, along with its own Apple Arcade service:

https://fortune.com/2019/06/03/apple-tv-xbox-playstation-controller-compatible/

Add in VR headset sales down the road a bit, along with game and in-game purchases and subscription game and TV revenues, lots of which will be pad for via the Apple credit card, and I think Steve Jobs was thinking more about the Apple TV box evolving into a major revenue generator than a hobby.

The AppleTV will support the PlayStation and Xbox controllers, but it will not be able to run the games. That said, yes, that little black box has become a successful gaming platform in its own right, but I don’t see hardcore console gamers switch to Apple TV from PS or Xbox. It’ll likely be more of a side-by-side of AppleTV and console, particularly because at least on the PS, the video experience is lacking (IMHO).


jochen
Jochen Wolters

    August 6

The AppleTV will support the PlayStation and Xbox controllers, but it will not be able to run the games.

Yes, they won’t be able to run Xbox and Playstation games themselves in the very near future, but I suspect that they will be running at least some of their games in Apple Arcade not long from now. It’s been rumored for some time now that both Sony and Microsoft are developing their own streaming services; a service has been already announced that will run on MS PCs. And Sony is rumored to be working with Microsoft Cloud Services on their service. The rumors began have accelerated since Google announced it has developed a cloud gaming system, Stadia, that runs on the Chrome browser, is hooked into YouTube, and will have its own controller. Stadia was announced around when Apple Arcade was:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BeFnQrgtZ9k

As far as I know, MS and Sony have not cut any controller deals with Google yet, and Google has been stressing that gamers won’t need or want to buy any additional hardware except for a Stadia controller. IMHO, this makes Apple TV look like a very attractive business opportunity that MS and Sony cannot afford to miss, either to sell controllers, subscriptions or individual games.

Google/YouTube will be gathering a mind boggling amount of data and marketing opportunities that will be infinitely important to advertisers and marketers, and Sony produces TV shows and movies and also has a humongous and global catalog of stuff in syndication. Microsoft, like Sony rakes in big bucks selling ads and product placements, in addition to plugging its own products in Xbox games, and it is still clunking along with Bing ad sales. Neither of them are likely to be happy about the possibility of this negatively affecting this affecting important revenue streams either.

That said, yes, that little black box has become a successful gaming platform in its own right, but I don’t see hardcore console gamers switch to Apple TV from PS or Xbox. It’ll likely be more of a side-by-side of AppleTV and console, particularly because at least on the PS, the video experience is lacking (IMHO).

With Google, YouTube/Chrome and Apple now in play, it’s going to be a different and more competitive universe. And hard core players are only part of it.