Comments on: How Apple might bring the fight to the Living Room http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/ Original comment and commentary, with a UK focus. Not another cut 'n' paste news site. Thu, 23 Jul 2015 20:19:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Tom http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3978 Fri, 01 May 2009 11:27:41 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3978 I think the play for the living room, den etc – it’s really a play for hearts and minds (to steal a phrase). It’s to make a play for the user’s hand space. The phone gets special privileges, amongst tech devices – it’s one a person usually has on them a lot of the time, gets to go most places with the user, and gets priority charging. It’s like a 2IC, or personal aide.

With the talk of the dock – Apple’s been pretty quiet on this front – they’ve talked about opening it up – and to be honest, I think they might have some people ready on that front come WWDC, and then release more info about interacting over BT/wifi / dock connector.

In the living room – the iPhone can take the mantle of universal remote, personal console, and also downloaded movie store, or controller for gaming –
They’ll be adding cardinal direction – we’ve mostly talked about this in terms of augmented reality, and map usage – but if it’s fine enough, this as a gyroscope equivalent, alongside 3D position, accelerometer information – it’s a darn sensitive controller to game with – the iPhone relays the info to a Mac mini/ other, which is hooked up to the TV –

The iPhone could sync the app to the Mac mini, then use the iPhone as a slaved controller, leaving the grunt work of running the graphics etc to the Mac, but taking charge of relaying info to the handset.
Will Apple have been in cahoots with a TV maker to get integration in. Hmmm isn’t Apple getting orders from LG for screens? Likely it’s a decent enough relatinoship to push integration of communication via a dock/interface?

]]> By: James Burland http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3942 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:45:04 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3942 And all the while it’s a Mac in a very small box and a multi-touch interface. Stealth within stealth!

]]> By: Matt Radford http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3941 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:39:12 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3941 @James

I agree. Funny how such a huge hit as the iPhone is also starting to look like a very stealthy play in the living room as well. The sneaky buggers!

]]> By: James Burland http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3940 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:26:18 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3940 t0mat0 and Matt: It’s looking more and more as if the iPhone/iPod is at the centre of Apple’s plans for the next 10 years or more.

There are already plenty of LCD TV’s that include an iPod dock. Just imagine how many more there would be if the next iPod/iPhone hardware supported HD video, gaming and web browsing though the standard dock!

]]> By: James Burland http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3939 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:15:04 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3939 Nikolay: I totally agree that *streaming* HD movies will be the ultimate solution, but in the meantime I see no reason why the iPhone could not act as a portable download manager. As I said in my post, the software is in place, it’s really just a matter of hardware.

64GB, 128GB and even 256GB iPhones are probably no more than 2 years away. Combine that with a updated Airport Express (and/or dock) that includes HDMI and you’ve got a pretty amazing solution I’d say.

I’m not saying that it will be the *only* solution. I happen to believe that Apple TV will be updated pretty soon, and of course there is always the possibility of a multi-touch tablet. (^_-)

]]> By: Matt Radford http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3938 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:07:28 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3938 I would definitely recommend you read this article from phonenews.com, which talks about a change to the AV cable that will be available with the new iPhone later this summer:

…consumers will be able to store HD shows on their devices directly. However, considering the limits of flash storage, this is a time consuming process. Enter Bonjour. Apple will also provide the ability for users to plug their iPhone into their HDTV, and gateway onto a user’s Wi-Fi network, and access their entire iTunes library on their HDTV.

I’m inclined to take this with a grain of salt, as with all rumours, but if it’s for real… wow. Buy an iPod/iPhone, get a way to access all your iTunes library wirelessly as well.

http://www.phonenews.com/apple-consolidating-av-cables-ahead-of-iphone-hd-launch-7648/

]]> By: James Burland http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3937 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:00:04 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3937 Brian: I do see your point. Perhaps I should be been clearer in my reasoning. The thrust of my argument wasn’t that the next iPhone (or iPod) could save you money, but rather that is might make what is currently available (PS3, XBOX 360) redundant.

]]> By: t0mat0 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3936 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:36:12 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3936 Nikolay – it’s already a portable download manager. I use it regularly in wifi to download podcasts in downtime. With the next versino getting 802.11n – it’s likely to have the option to download films itself, and make wireless syncing a more feasible possibility. We don’t know where Apple’s going with the ATV – it’s still a “hobby” currently, even with higher sales. With the reports of the AV cable being updated, there are hints there will be a shift in the environment to accomodate more features for the iPhone.

Apple’s seeing beyond the living room. The commuter on the tube/bus. The kid in his room, or classroom. The friend bringing over his rented movie, to plug into the new date’s tv…

]]> By: Nikolay Andreev http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3935 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:41:49 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3935 The iPhone will never turn into a portable download manager. To even consider that Apple will allow download of HD content on the iPhone is indeed a fancy idea. How senless it is to download a HD movie on an iPhone, wasting battery and not been able to watch it and hooking up your iPhone when you can watch HD content instantly at home?
Apple will never kill it’s Apple TV with the iPhone.

The iPhone will not kill the game consoles by replacing them. It will just redefine how and where people play games. This will certainly will not involve the home TV and it will certainly not involve cables.

What will happen is the ability to stream and watch the movies instantly on any Apple device either by WiFi or 3.5G. The iPhone

]]> By: Brian Jones http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2009/04/how-apple-might-bring-the-fight-to-the-living-room/#comment-3934 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:36:51 +0000 http://www.allaboutiphone.net/?p=1906#comment-3934 Here is why this won’t work:

Dad has to work late at the office and can’t bring the iPhone home. Now Jimmy has nothing to play Call of Duty on. I guess you could say, well, why doesn’t Dad by Jimmy an iPod Touch? Well, if he did, he just forked over another $300 for a video game system.

What doesn’t make sense in this picture is that you would be paying more for cheaper hardware (the iphone) when compared to purchasing an XBOX.

Brian.

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