No surprises here: At today’s event in San Francisco, Apple announced a reworked version of its Apple TV set-top box. The hardware is new, the prices are new, and how you interact with the device is new. Most importantly, there will be all kinds of new apps for the device, available through an Apple TV-centric App Store and stocked with games and goods from third-party developers.
This will be the first device with its sights set on bringing an iOS-like experience into the living room. The new tvOS, which is based on iOS and allows developers to create games and other apps using tools such as Xcode and Metal, is based on iOS but "built for the living room," according to Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue. The tvOS developer beta is available today, and the new box will be available in late October.
“TV plays a huge role in our lives and occupies an important place in our homes,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at today's event. "(But) the experience hasn’t changed that much in decades. It’s been standing still while innovation has been thriving in the mobile space with the iPhone and iPad... The future of TV is apps.”
The iOS 9-based Apple TV platform and its wider swath of apps aren’t the only similarities with the company’s mobile devices. Siri now plays a huge role in Apple TV. It has universal voice-search functionality across iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and Showtime, and it also lets users filter down existing search results by recognizing contextual spoken commands. You can also bring up weather, sports scores, and other info by just asking Siri for it.
The included remote gets a massive overhaul, with a glass touchpad on the top half of it for navigating onscreen menus. It connects to the Apple TV box via Bluetooth 4.0, meaning you don't have to point it directly at the box.
Onstage demos of the remote appeared smooth and incredibly fast. There's no onscreen pointer or slow toggling from menu item to menu item: With a quick swipe, you can scroll through several tiles of movies or TV shows. There's also a 3D effect when you move you finger around on the touchpad while a movie icon is selected.
