Apple TV: From High Hopes to Has-Been

Verizon now has the potential to become a catalyst in a way that seems impossible for Apple. While Apple focuses on iOS-ing the world, the Apple TV is languishing. Love or hate Amazon, the company has proven that it has the ability to create competitive hardware products and connect them to competitive content products. Both of these companies could leave Apple TV in the dust.

When it comes to TV, Apple is starting to recede into the dark corners of my mind. Its relevance -- and even potential relevance -- is waning. A fancypants Apple-made big-screen HDTV device that seems to float in the air and function like a delightful work of art... . It not only seems unlikely any time soon, but also unlikely to really matter to anyone but rich Apple enthusiasts.

As the hockey-puck Apple TV gathers dust -- the last hardware update was in March of 2012 -- Apple's slow march with new app "channels" is more irritating than truly useful. If I already am a cable or satellite-TV subscriber with a DVR, then messing with a slow app with inconsistent Internet streaming quality is downright silly. I can just watch a show with a snappy, high-quality response from my DVR.

Where's Apple Again? 

 

Meanwhile, what's Apple up to? Maybe we'll get a faster A7-processor based Apple TV replacement unit sometime in 2014. That would be nice -- but will we ever get an Amazon TV app available on our Apple TV directly? Or will we be forced to use AirPlay to stream content from the app on our iPhones and iPads to the Apple TV just to fling it to a big screen? Seems silly, doesn't it? At best, somewhat trite.
Of course, maybe Apple will deliver a gesture-based navigation scheme for the next-generation Apple TV... and maybe open up its Apple TV interface to all iOS developers, letting innovators build apps for use directly from their Apple TVs. That would be cool.
These ideas seem increasingly far away, though. Ironically, that might spell opportunity for Apple. If the company's invention mojo is still strong, an Apple TV could profit from confusion and consumer pain -- even as Verizon and Amazon pave the way by softening up traditional cable monopolies and content distribution deals.