Thing is, Apple has dick for leverage because their cheapest streamer box is $150. Roku and Amazon are in a very different situation.
Apple is supposed to come out with a next-gen appletv device soonish, though. Supposedly would already be out if not for the rona.
But Apple couldn’t get it done back in the early days when they were the set-top box to beat, when they had the leverage Roku and Amazon think they have now. Because it turns out the content is the leverage that matters.
Maybe the rest of the streaming landscape has shifted enough that none of that applies any more with overall “cord-cutting” and streaming being a much larger audience. Or maybe the HBOs and Netflixes still hold all the cards. Guess we’ll find out.
Plus, Apple’s next-gen streaming box is still going to be $150.
I mean, I’m in Oklahoma, and my GF and I (and our daughters) really like it. The New England feel doesn’t phase me at all, as the dynamic between Lorelai and Rory is so fantastic – I think every mother wants a relationship like that with her daughter.
I just didn’t realize it was on so many people’s radars in 2020. I guess the Year in the Life brought it back into public consciousness?
I’m not sad about it, I think it’s a really good show. I love me some snappy dialogue, and Lord, the show has that in spades!
What will it do that will jusify the cost? The Fire Stick with voice command is $40, and you can usually get it for $20 on Prime Day.
It’s Apple. Their fanboys won’t care.
There are two things I miss about using the Apple TV hardware since switching to a TCL Roku TV for everything.
AirPlay really is very convenient.
AirPod support was a feature I didn’t know I cared about until I had it, and now I hate that I don’t have it anymore.
I really liked both of those features, but not enough to buy a new Apple TV box. My old one was the pre-4K version so I haven’t even bothered hooking it up to the new TV. The most likely path to me using an Apple TV again would be if I can get the current model at a steep discount when some theoretical new version comes out.
I’m surprised and pleased to see they went back to the original Daffy Duck in the new Looney Tunes.
It is? Where can I watch purchased Apple movies that isn’t an Apple device (or Windows running iTunes, I suppose)? Or do you just mean Movies Anywhere - that’s not available here. As far as I’m aware the only way I can watch an Apple-purchased movie on my TV is the AppleTV, and I can’t on my phone.
Apple TV app is on Amazon’s hardware. Also some TVs come with it.
The “Apple TV App” allows access to the iTunes media library and store as well as access to Apple TV+ (assuming you subscribe). It’s available on some TVs from Samsung and LG, as well as Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices.
Yeah I know, that’s the reference I was making here. Amazon and Roku own most the playground so ATT showing up and not wanting to share…
AppleTV was never at the top of the pack. Going back to 2009 their first-gen model sold for $299. It had an intel CPU and was basically a little mac. The first gen roku, launched in 2008, was $99.
If Apple launches another appletv and the cheapest model is $149 that just means they’re giving up on streamer boxes.
Ah, didn’t realise the app also did iTunes media. Still no use to me as it’s not on my generation of LG TV, nor Android. Guess my Apple TV purchase with the store credit wasn’t so frivolous after all.
Or that, like with iPhones, they’re more interested in profit margin over market share.
Not really. Apple sells millions of iPhones. A high margin on a product nobody buys makes no sense when you need to support a whole app ecosystem to make it work.
Apple already gave up their walled garden when they allowed the AppleTV app on roku, firetv, etc. That means their streamer box needs to largely (airplay aside) compete on its merits, not depending on users being locked-in to their ecosystem. Right now it’s just another streamer box with all the same apps everybody else has, starting at four times the price. Oh yeah, and an abomination of a remote control.
And yes there are fine points, the appletv 4k remains one of the speediest streamers available, competing only with the shieldTV. But most people don’t give a shit about that. My parents were using a TCL roku TV that was so slow I swear it pained me to use it, so I bought them a roku ultra-- very fast, and $99.
For people with a catalogue of iTunes movies, the free 4K upgrade is a pretty strong value proposition. I’m not one of those people, but to the extent I buy digital movies, I’d certainly consider doing it first on Apple now.
Blarg. We have a TCL Roku tv. It was nice to avoid other streaming boxes, and it certainly meets the spousal and kids approval factor.
I guess I’ll dig out my Nvidia Shield again for HBO Max. That sucks. It’s been nice using only the one TCL Roku remote for the last year or two.
On AppleTV, the HBO Now app just turned into HBO Max today with an update. Everything was seamless.
The Roku remote should be able to control the shield through HDMI-CEC.