At the event held today in San Francisco, Apple announced the new, third-generation Apple TV. It supports full 1080p video playback, comes with a simpler, redesigned, icon-based user interface and runs on Apple single-core A5 chip (as opposed to A4 in Apple TV 2 and A5X in iPad 3).

The updated Apple TV features 1080p programming including iTunes movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos and live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL in HD. Apple has expanded its iTunes in the Cloud functionality in iCloud, giving users the ability to access purchased movies and TV shows right from iCloud on the Apple TV. With iCloud, you can now buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC.

Apple also announced that second generation Apple TV users can install the new Apple TV user interface via a free software update, available today. Still, third generation Apple TV is required to play 1080p video.

Following the new Apple TV unveiling, Netflix has announced that, starting today, users can sign-up for Netflix directly on the Apple TV and pay via an iTunes account. Also, with the new third generation Apple TV, users will be able to watch movies and television streaming on Netflix in 1080p high definition and with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

The new Apple TV will be available next week (Friday, March 16th) for $99. Pre-orders start today.

You may also want to read:
All you need to know about the new, third-generation Apple TV (updated)
Munster: Apple TV set will be the biggest thing in consumer electronics since the smartphone
AirPlay Mirror your Mac’s screen to Apple TV with AirParrot

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

While the whole world is already waiting for a long-rumored Apple TV set, and while the Cupertino-based company is struggling to cut content-delivery deals with media companies, tomorrow Apple will probably only reveal an updated, third-generation Apple TV set-top box – just a foretaste of what Apple’s reinvented TV will be like.

The new Apple TV (Apple TV 3?) is said to include Bluetooth 4.0 capability and a faster processor required to stream rumored upcoming 1080p iTunes content. But hey, you won’t revolutionize the TV with Bluetooth and a faster chip! So, what are the game-changing features Apple has added to its updated set-top box to conquer the TV market?

Here is a full list of what we can expect from the new Apple TV:

• It will be controlled by iPad 3: Forbes’ contributor Anthony Wing Kosner thinks the iPad3 could be the “World’s Greatest Remote Control” for the Apple TV, with features like multi-channel previewing, multi-angle selection, unified media viewing and social media integration;
• It will include Bluetooth 4.0 technology: 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman speculates that low-power Bluetooth 4.0 technology could bring a bunch of new input devices to Apple TV: Bluetooth remote with a built-in noise-canceling microphone to take Siri commands or some sort of touchscreen game controller – like a standalone version of the iOS Remote app. With the FM Radio chip in the new Apple TV, Apple could theoretically include radio streaming support;
• It will include faster processor: possibly a variation of the dual-core A5 chip;
• It will run the Hulu Plus app natively: 9to5mac has gotten word that “inside Apple there are Apple TVs running the Hulu Plus app natively. The app is feature complete and ready to roll out to Apple TV users on current builds”;
• It will integrate Siri: According to Globe and Mail, Rogers and Bell, Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, already have the product in their labs: it reportedly integrates Siri, Apple’s voice-recognition software, to help viewers make programming choices;
• It will be controlled by hand gestures: the same sources claim the new Apple TV can be controlled by hand gestures;
• It will have apps (channels-as-apps): The Guardian’s Jean-Louis Gassée believes that “to gain acceptance, the Apple TV ecosystem will have to offer a library of entertainment apps tailored for TV”, just like MLB.tv app for Apple TV;
• It will become a game console: Developer Michael Gile predicts that “Apple TV will be the most successful game console in history.” He revealed that he’s working on porting Wolfenstein 3D and Quake over to the Apple TV’s system;
• It will support iCloud: According to WSJ, it’s possible Apple will allow you to record live TV and save the shows to iCloud;
• It will be available on March 7^th or 8^th: Today, MacRumor discovered that the current model is not available in 98 percent of Apple stores in the US. While trying to order Apple TV 2, MacTrust discovered that the earliest shipping date for the stock was 8 March 2012. According to The Verge, at all of the stores where the device is out of stock, availability is listed as starting on or after March 7^th.

The Verge has more news on the forthcoming Apple TV:

We’re told that it will have 1080p capabilities, and will work in conjunction with the iPad and other Apple devices to deliver new video streaming / mirroring functionality (which will also fall inline with new Mountain Lion features).

Apple will update both the new Apple TV and the iPad 3 not with the rumored, quad-core A6 system-on-a-chip, but rather the A5X, a dual-core SoC said to have a more powerful GPU. From what we’re hearing, it’s basically an A5 on steroids.

Update #2: 9to5Mac reports they’ve gotten some pricing information on the new Apple TV model:

The Apple TV J33 model, MD199LL/A – J33 BEST -USA, will come in at the same $99 price point (and similar prices globally).

You may also want to read:
Munster: Apple TV set will be the biggest thing in consumer electronics since the smartphone
New Apple TV will be announced on March 7th
Giveaway: Win a free copy of AirParrot for Apple TV 2
AirPlay Mirror your Mac’s screen to Apple TV with AirParrot

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

[image: fastcompany.com]

It wasn’t too long ago when we heard from Steve that he had NO IDEA on how to succeed in the television market. Any chance it has just changed? Apple’s special event is set for September 1^st and what the world expects to be unveiled in San Francisco that day is an updated, upgraded, renamed, rebuilt, rethought, revamped, refreshed or completely new, long-romored, long-awaited, magic, revolutionary, shiny — Ladies and Gentleman — the new Apple TV. Well, maybe not the whole world, there are those skeptics who ask if Apple is really going to announce a TV gadget at an event with a guitar on the invitation. Pessimists aside, now, when everyone on this planet seems to have its own opinion on what is going to happen on Wednesday and when every little website in the cyberspace has its own rumor on the next Apple’s TV device, let’s sum up the most important ones. Here is a comprehensive list of what has been lately said about the new Apple TV.

General

• Engadget: new Apple TV called iTV: $99, A4 CPU, iOS, 16GB of flash storage, cloud-based storage, new iTunes streaming services, AppStore, no 1080p, quite small device with a scarce amount of ports (only the power socket and video out), “an iPhone without a screen”
• DigiTimes: “Apple is set to launch a new Apple TV using AMD’s Fusion solution and will not include a hard drive. The new device will adopt a user interface similar to the iPhone with support for social networking websites, network multimedia and the App Store.
• Kevin Rose: “From what I hear we should expect to see the iTV launch in September”
• Jason D. O’Grady on ZDNet: “iTV would no longer be a hard drive based setop box, but rather a live streaming device. Think of it as a combo iPad docking station and Airport Express with an HDMI port out the back.”
• AppleInsider via Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros.: “The biggest potential change to the forthcoming Apple TV refresh is the move to an ARM architecture processor running the same iOS software that powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. (…) The new Apple TV will have access to the App Store.”
• Gene Munster: Apple could offer an $1,800 to $2,000 “all-in-one Apple television solution that would replace the current amalgam of set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, PVRs, cables, game consoles and TVs in a typical home.
• Bloomberg: “Steve Jobs will rather focus on the ability for customers to watch TV shows and movies on their iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches, says a person familiar with the plan. The company will announce that customers can rent many TV shows for 99 cents.”

Name

• Engadget: Apple will be officially changing the name of the device to iTV (that was the name of the Apple TV when it was originally announced by the company)
• AllNewsMac: Lawyers looking into Apple TV name change as ‘iTV’ is already taken

Hardware

• Engadget: A4 CPU, no hard drive, 16GB of flash storage, only 720p support, only the power socket and video out ports
• DigiTimes: AMD’s Fusion CPU, no hard drive

Storage

• Engadget: cloud-based storage, Time Capsule as an external storage component
• Rose: picture and video sharing feature powered by MobileMe

OS

• Engadget: iOS
• Business Insider: How will Apple’s touch based operating system work on a TV screen that will not be touch based?

Content

• Engadget: new iTunes streaming services
• Engadget: iTunes streaming video service coming soon? (“A new Apple iTunes customer survey lists “Titles are available to watch instantly” as a reason you might totally love watching video on the iPad. This could be a big hint that instant streaming is coming quite soon.”)
• Bloomberg: Apple Said to Prepare 99-Cent TV Shows (“Apple is in advanced talks with News Corp. to let iTunes users rent TV shows for 99 cents. Viewers would be able to rent programs from Fox for 48 hours. CBS, NBC and Walt Disney also are in talks about joining the effort.”)
• Rose: Expect to see an iPhone/Pad like marketplace for television applications. Video sharing/streaming/recording apps, interactive news apps, and of course games.
• Rose: a la carte (app) stations “With Apple’s iAds, content producers (eg. ABC/NBC/etc.) can directly monetize and distribute their content. This will eventually destroy the television side of the cable and satellite industry.”
• David Gewirtz on ZDNet: FaceTime could be Apple’s iTV killer app (“You no longer just have little tiny screens talking to little tiny screens — you can have grandma on the couch, talking to Baby Biff in his crib.”)
• Hardmac: Apple working on a new video format (“The ultimate goal for Apple would be to promote this new format to support 4 K video – up to 4096×2160.”)
• Macworld: Apple could let third-parties deliver the video content to the ATV (“So the next Apple TV becomes another iOS device that uses third-party apps. If Netflix or Hulu or ABC or NPR or whoever wants to get its content on the device, it simply makes a compatible app for it.”)
• new media age: Cloud-based iTunes “Apple purchased cloud-based music service Lala last year only to close it, prompting speculation that it will incorporate the online music streaming service into iTunes.”
• Apple Insider: Apple’s potential Web-based iTunes will be ‘social, not streaming’ (“Apple may reveal a “big overhaul” of its iTunes Music Store next week, likely to be a lightweight Web version, but the service will not be updated to allow users to stream their content from the cloud.”)

Controller

• Rose: The iPad will turn into one big badass remote control (“Imagine watching monday night football on the TV while viewing/exploring other camera angles on the iPad.”)
• Jason D. O’Grady on ZDNet: 7-inch iPad like touch device (iTV Pad)
• Venomous Porridge: An iPhone without the screen (“It’s the love child of an iPod touch and a Magic Trackpad. It has the same inertial and gyroscopic motion sensors as the iPhone 4, and the same multitouch surface we’re familiar with. A home button. Bluetooth. No screen.”)
• The Russians Used a Pencil: “Apple would never require a user to have an iPhone / iPad in order to use their Apple TV.” Other options: 1) Apple Remote, 2) Bluetooth Keyboard and Trackpad, 3) Game Controller

Games

• Bloomberg via Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros.: “Apple TV could be a popular, low-cost game console for people who don’t care about running the most cutting-edge, graphics intensive games.
• Macworld: an iOS Apple TV could take a chunk out of the huge game-console market (“I know more than a few people who’d be happy to spend $200 or so on a system that doesn’t require you to spend $30 to $50 a pop for “family” games that are matched, both in visuals and gameplay, by $1 to $5 games for iOS.”)
• Macworld: “Provide an Apple TV that can play high-resolution games—with surround sound, an HDMI connection, and hardware controllers, yet—and you’ve got a fairly formidable hunk of hardware sitting next to your TV.”

Price

• Engadget: $99
• Jason D. O’Grady on ZDNet: By integrating the existing engineering from the Airport Express and scaling down the iPad technology (no need for Retina display, nor do you need 10 hours of battery life, or even 64 GB of storage) Apple could easily deliver a TV solution for $249.
• Mark Sigal on his blog: The $99 price tag implies one of three paths for Apple TV: 1) Limited Storage, cloud dependency path, 2) getting to $99 via Subsidy, as is the case with iPhone, 3) running on top of the Mac Mini as a $99 software add-on, with the user being able to choose between a $69 Magic Trackpad, a $200 iPod touch, a $99 iPhone or $500 iPad as the controller

Release date

• Rose: September
• Bloomberg: September 1st
• MacDailyNews: “Multiple” sources say that Apple’s busy prepping telesales employees for a new product that will be “huge” or “very big” and coming in “October”
• DigiTimes: Mass production of the device will start in December.”

Other interesting thoughts on Apple TV and IPTV

NYT: In the Living Room, Hooked on Pay TV
CNET: Content kings control the future of IPTV
Associated Press: Apple’s 99-cent TV show idea is no game changer
ZDNet: Apple, Google TV: Does Pay as You Go Make Dollars and Sense?
LA Times: Murdoch may be key to Apple’s plan to offer 99-cent digital rentals of TV shows
Game Theory: How App TV Disrupts the Console Industry

Apple TV Hacks will be providing all the latest news on the new Apple TV/iTV. If it’s coming… Stay tuned!

[images: ZDNet.com, venomousporridge.com, blog.monty.de]

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!