Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) has finally started in San Francisco and much to the surprise of many fans of Apple products, the Apple TV has not figured in the event’s keynote.
Though, some rumours for last couple of days were sending out strong hints of Apple TV not being included in the annual developers conference, many were hopeful to see at least a mention of next version of the Apple TV set top box.
This is the third consecutive WWDC when Apple TV has missed on coming in the list of products finding place in the keynote delivered by the Apple CEO.
Apple announced a major update for Apple TV in 2012 when it held a huge event in March to announce its new products and services like the third generation iPad and iOS 5.1 with Siri, as well as the third generation of Apple TV.
When the Cupertino-based company believes in revamping its products like iPhones, iPads and iMacs every year, the step-motherly treatment with Apple TV is beyond anyone’s imaginations. Though, Apple TV fans also don’t want the hardware to be changed every now and then, but a period of three years is pretty long, especially in today’s world of technology.
The current version of Apple TV includes a single-core A5 processor and supports 1080p content from iTunes and Netflix. Apple released a third generation “Rev A” in January 2014 but the update included only component changes.
Since then Apple, apart from a couple of inclusions in the service, has not updated the set top box despite an increasing competition from other market players like Roku, Chromecast and Amazon’s Fire TV.
Giving in to the market pressure, the company in March this year brought down the price of Apple TV from $99 to $69.
However, the announcement and launch of the new version of Apple TV are inevitable as the company has already confirmed its plans about the set top box.
The new Apple TV is going to support the Apple Watch and the smartwatch may work as the remote control for the newer version of Apple TV. The Apple Watch compatibility is not the only feature Apple TV is going to come with. The latest version of the Apple TV is going to get a design change and the remote of the TV box is also going to be fancier and more tactile with touch keys.
The Apple TV boxes are going to be slim with more flattish design; however, the actual size of the box is going to be bigger than its predecessor. The remote is said to get Siri functionality as well.
Apple is going to introduce TVKit SDK in the software so developers get access to create apps for Apple TV as the company is opening its support for third-party apps.
The company is also trying to bring its Live TV service in the new Apple TV software codenamed “MonarchTide”. So far Apple TV boxes come loaded with apps that depend on cable-subscription. Apple has been in talks with major content providers so it can launch its Live TV service as soon as possible but it seems that there is still lot to do for the Apple team to convince the content companies.
It’s not yet clear that how will Apple Watch work with the Apple TV as a remote control or not, but sources said that the smartwatch from Apple is going to be a “primary input device”.
