Original Photo: AMNH/C. Chesek
I’m doing dishes. As I vigorously scrub the remaining sauce from a pot, I realize something: washing dishes is very boring. It’s a tedious task. Scrub, scrub, scrub, rinse, repeat. I look over at my TV. It’s off, but facing me. Taunting me. I want to turn it on, but my hands are soapy.
“Hey Siri, turn on my Apple TV.”
My phone chirps, “I’d like to, but I cannot.”
“Ok, Google, turn on my Apple TV.”
“Sorry, I’m not sure how to help.”
Damn. I rinse off and dry off my hands and walk over to my Apple TV remote, sitting on my coffee table. Then, I turn on the TV and find a show to put on while I do my chores. I make a mental note to write about this experience later.
Why does my Apple TV feel like something out of the 1950’s?
In This Article:
My Expectations
I’ve got smart light bulbs that I can turn on and dim with my voice. I can ask Google how to make a drink, or Alexa to play me some music. But I can’t ask my Apple TV to turn on. The TV remote is ancient technology, and, even with a Siri button, Apple’s remote still nothing more than a TV remote. It’s a slight evolution over my Grandparents’ first clickers. The Apple TV was supposed to be the iPhone of TVs, but, much like Siri on the iPhone, the Apple TV has fallen far behind expectations. Those expectations were set by unrelated technology, smart speakers, but Apple’s direct competition is beating Apple as well.
We can do better than this.
What do I want? I want to be able to turn on, navigate the interface, start a show or movie, and start watching it without ever touching a piece of technology. I want to ask my Apple TV to start running some episodes of Jessica Jones, get me caught up on Silicon Valley, or give me some cool mind bending twists with the Twilight Zone without ever putting down the dishes I’m washing. The technology is all here, why hasn’t Apple put it to use yet?
The Competition
While Roku hasn’t introduced a stand-alone voice controlled streaming device yet, Amazon and Google have brought voice control to their set-top boxes. In Amazon’s case, the Fire TV Cube is a fully powered Alexa device that can also act as a Fire TV device. This means it’s a set-top box for smart TV content like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go, while also performing the actions of a standard Echo Dot. This is exactly what Apple should be doing for their next Apple TV: a Siri controlled device that can also function as an Apple TV.
Google has gone a slightly different direction with their Chromecast devices. Chromecast requires Google’s servers. Your media comes from Google, even when you’re just mirroring a device or streaming music from your phone. This is also how your Google devices communicate with one another, through Google’s servers. Chromecast isn’t an all-in-one TV solution, but with a Google Home Mini or an Android device, you can still have a voice controlled TV. Your voice requests go through a Home Mini to Google’s servers, then back to your Chromecast device. It’s a bit convoluted, but the requests are fast, and, as a consumer, you won’t know all of that happened. All you’ll know is you asked your house for some nostalgic 80’s sci-fi horror, and you got it.
(What Should be the) Apple TV 5
It’s true, Siri is woefully terrible. If Siri is a person, be the person who sits at a green light until it turns red, then rushes through the busy intersection. However, Siri is already prepared for actions on the Apple TV. Sure, I almost never use it because the results are unpredictable, but it’s good for basic searches and commands. Certainly, it’s good enough to operate basic TV functionality without being anywhere near a remote.
With the exception of one remote interaction—a click in a confirmation dialog—I just searched for and started a movie from Siri, without even knowing what service it was on. Apple could absolutely enable complete Siri control with few software tweaks, like removing the need to confirm that you want to play the movie in the app you just asked it to open. Apple’s existing Siri support is nearly sufficient for complete voice control already.
More Than TV
4K doesn’t have me running out to buy a new Apple TV, I’m content with my Apple TV 4. However, if Apple released a complete Siri-controlled Apple TV, I’d buy it on launch day. Being able to control your TV with your voice, without needing the remote at all, is a huge selling point. But just imagining such an Apple TV for movies, sports, and TV shows may be thinking a little too small. This is an always-on Siri device, like the HomePod. It can do a lot more than just get me some bingeworthy TV shows.
I occasionally throw small parties at my apartment. Something I do is play music from my Apple TV. Why? My sound bar and subwoofer are some of the best speakers in my apartment. For many people, the speakers hooked up to their TVs are the best speakers in their homes. Because of this, it would make sense to use the Apple TV to control your music with your voice, or anything in your home, really. You could also ask it anything you’d ask Siri on your iPhone to do, like dim the lights, create calendar appointments, or report the weather. If the Apple TV had Siri, it could help Apple catch up to the visual smart assistants of Google and Amazon.
Likelihood?
If a voice controlled Apple TV seems like an easy decision for Apple, that’s because it would be. Apple could release a new Apple TV for a higher price than their current model, allowing them to increase their margins while selling what would likely be the most popular Apple TV ever. Unlike most Siri-related products, it wouldn’t require a drastic update to Siri to function properly. Since it would be in a different product category from the HomePod, it wouldn’t cannibalize Apple’s—already disappointing—sales of the HomePod. Overall, it’s a low cost upgrade with huge potential for profit in a new product category. That’s Apple’s bread and butter.
I’d be pleased—but not shocked—if Apple released a new Apple TV alongside new iPhones this fall. However, as we haven’t seen any leaks or rumors regarding an update like this yet, we may have to wait until spring or later. It’s difficult to predict Apple’s actions, but this one is a no-brainer.