Comments on: AppleTV missing from WWDC; Are its days numbered, or will there be a glorious future?

By: treorblanco

treorblanco — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:12:42 +0000

Why don’t you start a series of what wasn’t mentioned and state it’s demise because of it’s lack of inclusion in WWDC?
iPod was not mentioned.
iPod touch was hardly mentioned at the keynote (sadly and of more concern than anything)
iMac..Uh Oh.. It’s on it’s way out as well.
Where were the new macbooks with the metal exterior?
Clearly it was about the iPhone and it’s software. Apple did not want to dilute the focus with anything else.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:54:19 +0000

I’ve been saying for a long time that Apple could do a lot with the Apple TV, there is a USB port on it for a reason right? If I was to add anything to it though it might be a ATSC tuner through the USB port that would turn it into a DVR. The only other thing I would suggest Apple do is allow users to plug a Bluetooth dongle into the USB port and then purchase a cheap bluetooth game controller that they could then play games on the Apple TV. Like you said, it runs OS X so it wouldn’t be too much work for devs to port games to it, all they need is Apple’s go ahead and an SDK.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:57:43 +0000

Phil mentioned how MobileME (photos) would integrate with AppleTV. That was something I guess.

By: Terrence Koonce

Terrence Koonce — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:20:57 +0000

Maybe Apple will integrate “MobileMe” into the AppleTV to allow email and calendar support!

By: Pat Hawks

Pat Hawks — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:15:35 +0000

AppleTV supports Bluetooth?
Apple has encouraged hacking the AppleTV?

Even if there were an AppStore for AppleTV, one would hardly want to just port apps from the iPhone. Not only completely different hardware, but each have totally different interfaces and uses.

By: Elliot Betancourt

Elliot Betancourt — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:56:57 +0000

Hi Matt,

A. When the iPhone was introduced Steve said it would be the third leg of his 3 legged stool, and said that the AppleTV was just a “hobby” right now.

B. Actually, I thought we would see some new changes to the AppleTV when Apple launched the new bluetooth keyboard. I couldn’t understand why else they would drop the number pad from the keyboard, unless it was meant to be used in some place where a wider keyboard would be uncomfortable (like the couch). I think that there are alot of possibilities they are playing with at Apple. Just as you imply, how hard would it be to create a an AppStore for the AppleTV? its the one device where Apple has tacitly encouraged hardware hacking.

By: Mike Caprio

Mike Caprio — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:51:09 +0000

No, the most appropriate thing for Apple to do is cut out the middleman entirely (remove the console) and just build everything into a TV. An “iScreen” HDTV that automatically downloads games/movies/music from iTunes and synchronizes with your portable devices and also gives you a big touchscreen to play with would be the ideal thing. Then it would also integrate with your PS3, Xbox, Wii, and they could even stick in a cablecard slot (not that anyone would use it!)

By: Luck Kanthatham

Luck Kanthatham — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:26:54 +0000

Nice speculation, Mike, but I don’t think you will see Apple TV as a gaming platform any time soon; not with the current hardware anyway. It can barely play 720p movies.

However, being a proponent of the Apple TV since its first release and running two Apple TV-related blogs, I do have high hopes for it. The only problem is there is no SDK for it. I’ve been writing about the lack of SDK for the Apple TV numerous times on both my blogs.

I can only hope that you’re right, Matt.

By: Pat Hawks

Pat Hawks — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:11:39 +0000

To put it bluntly, that sounds like a really dumb idea.
I already have a 360 and a Wii, why do I want my AppleTV to turn into a second rate knock-off?
I *do* agree that there is a lot of potential in that box if they opened it to developers, like your weather widget idea.
What if, while watching a movie on my iPhone, I could click a button and start watching it on AppleTV (like AirTunes for video)?

Overall, though, we only seen the very beginning of video on the internet. AppleTV could be today’s Newton (hopefully not), or Apple could continue to develope new features and promote this thing.