Besides new iPhones and iPad Pro, Apple has also announced new Apple TV running on its tvOS, which is based on iOS. This will enable millions of iOS developers to create innovative new apps and games specifically for Apple TV and deliver them directly to users through the new Apple TV App Store.
The new Apple TV is based on apps built for the television. According to Tim Cook, future of TV is apps and hence this creation. Apps on Apple TV let you choose what to watch and when you watch it. The new Apple TV’s remote features Siri, which let you search with your voice for TV shows and movies across multiple content providers simultaneously.The all-new Apple TV is built with a new generation of high-performance hardware and introduces an intuitive and fun user interface using the Siri Remote.
With Siri, you can use your voice to search TV shows and movies by title, genre, cast, crew, rating or popularity, making it easy to say things like “Show me New Girl,” “Find the best funny movies from the ‘80s,” “Find movies with Jason Bateman” and “Find popular TV shows for kids.” Apple TV will search iTunes and popular apps from Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Showtime, displaying all the ways the resulting TV shows and movies can be played. Apple will add more content providers in due course of time. Siri also offers playback control and on-screen navigation, as well as quick access to sports, stock and weather information.
The new Apple TV will be available at the end of October starting at $149 (US) for a 32GB model and $199 (US) for a 64GB model.
“There has been so much innovation in entertainment and programming through iOS apps, we want to bring that same excitement to the television,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Apps make the TV experience even more compelling for viewers and we think apps represent the future of TV.”
The new Apple TV is more expensive than almost similar devices from competitors such as Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV and Google’s Chromecast that offer some of the same features available in the new Apple TV. The Roku 3 and Amazon Fire TV devices cost about $100 and cheaper versions with fewer features are available — as low as $39 for the Amazon Fire TV Stick. Google’s Chromecast device sells for $35. It will be seen how consumers embrace this new offering which is expensive than competition.
