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
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.
(What Should be the) Apple TV 5
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
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.