iTV

9to5Mac, or at least Seth Weintraub, just gave their guess at how the Apple HDTV (which people think might as well be called iTV, so I will too).

One area I disagree with them is the whole idea of a newsstand like “channels” app that will show live TV. I find it odd that they end with a potential sales pitch likening it to the drastic difference in music and smartphones Apple caused because having a live “channels” section is no different than prettying up the UI of my set top box. That’s actually not different. Apple destroyed the physical music business, which was the actual standard back then, not pirating. The standard content delivery today is live streams.

You may not have noticed but radio isn’t live streams any more. Instead you a la carte playlists yourself, choose a genre from a shuffling service (pandora), let the Genius or Spotify work, let one of your friends DJ for you (turntable), all of which are a la carte as well instead of live streaming.

There will be no Apple DVR. Why should you be SOL when you forget to DVR The Simpsons or miss half of it because Baseball delayed it and you just taped 30 minutes of the 9th inning? No, you go to Hulu or iTunes or Fox.com and watch it with your method of paying/commercials. “Air time” will change to “launch”. The only streaming will be actual live events, which you’ll be able to start from the beginning whenever you choose to tune in.

DVRs were never anything other than a bandaid for lack of complete on demand catalogs anyway, and Apple doesn’t do bandaids.

People are thinking very in the box on these “rumors” so far. So once again:

  • The Apple HDTV / iTV will have one cord, the power cord.
  • It will work over WiFi (and hopefully also work as an AP / range extender for existing AP networks)
  • There will not be an HDMI/Composite/Component/VGA etc in but there will be AirPlay that supports 1080p24
  • You will not use your remote app to move a cursor on screen, you will use the remote app to tell it what to do. (You’ll pick Fox > Family Guy > Petarded from the UI on the app while the iTV waits with a gorgeous screensaver instead of tapping/swiping Up Down Left Right Enter buttons).
  • You will be able to use the existing IR remotes as well but App control will be heavily marketed / recommended.