Apple is now actively planning where they want to go with their TV strategy in the coming years. The company seems to be looking to invest in advancing technology behind interacting with video content as well as syncing playback across different devices. The talks reportedly also include discussion of an Apple Television, something that Steve Jobs claimed to have "cracked" before he passed.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting on talks that Apple is having both internally and with media companies regarding the future of their TV services. Based on what the WSJ has heard from its sources, it seems that Apple's executives are looking to continue Steve Jobs' vision of how users will interact with media in the future.
One of the focuses of these discussions at Apple is to update how users interact with media content on their TV. Voice and gesture interactions are the most likely focuses and a refresh to the current Apple TV line is being discussed. Additional discussion is centered around the ability to start watching a program on one device, such as the Apple TV, and then pausing and continuing that viewing on something like the iPad or a computer.
The Wall Street Journal is also reporting something much more interesting, namely the idea that Apple would develop and release their own Television with streaming technology, similar to what is used in the current Apple TV set top box. The concept is that the TV would have some version of Apple's wireless-streaming service, AirPlay built right in. That would allow users to push content from their devices directly to the TV without the need for a separate set top box.
In order to make all of this work, Apple would need to expand their iCloud based services to allow a TV show purchased on one device to be available on the TV itself. This would also include partnering with media outlets to integrate DVR content on the TV as well as into the Cloud.
The real question here is exactly how much sense does it make for Apple to get into the TV business? This is a company that is centered around having high margins on all of the devices they sell and I can't envision that happening on a TV in a market where gains on those devices are shrinking rapidly. What's more, Apple has always operated under a business model that involves update cycles for devices that run every 12-18 months. No one is going to upgrade their TV that frequently and users will likely be upset if major feature upgrades happen not 12 months after they spent a large chunk of cash on a device.
When Jobs was asked at a "top 100" meeting of Apple executives last year about creating an Apple branded TV, he was clear that it would be a bad business for the company to get involved in because the margins were so low. The contradiction is that he had also stated to a biographer that he had "finally cracked it," referring to an Apple Television.
Whether the company decides to invest in updates to their set top box technology with the integration of media partners or if they decide to go all in on a TV itself will be interesting to watch.
Would you buy an Apple HDTV? Do you even think that product makes sense for the company? Let us know what you think about all of this in the comments.
