An email from Steve Jobs to the 2010 incarnation of the Apple 100 gathering — their annual, confidential strategy meeting — outlines pretty much what you'd expect to see as discussion points for a next-generation Apple TV. Apps are front and center, as is a version of the Safari web browser, and a 'magic wand' that likely refers to a gesture based remote control (think Wii-mote). The Verge:
"Where do we go from here?" says one of the bullet points, followed by "apps, browser" and "magic wand?" as possible options. However, those suggestions could be just be riffing. In testimony in a San Jose court earlier today, marketing chief Phil Schiller noted that items from this email were just an outline, and not necessarily set in stone for the confab. That includes mention of 2011 being the "holy war with Google." In this case, the Apple TV 2 presentation is described as an opportunity to discuss the the company's plans to "stay in the living room game and make a great 'must have' accessory for iOS devices."
Four years later it's probably safe to assume those plans, if they were ever serious, have been refined and changed and turned upside down and back again at least a few times. However, a Game Store, if not an App Store proper, makes a lot of sense. Apple has already shown they understand the power of the platform and extending it from desktop and mobile to television would only make the entire ecosystem more valuable.
You can already AirPlay browsers to the Apple TV but it probably wouldn't hurt to have Safari proper there. That is if they could figure out a great 10-foot interface for it. And a controller...
The iPhone and the iPad are already great multitouch, motion-aware controllers but they cost hundreds of dollars each and Wi-Fi just takes too long to spool up (and if it didn't would take too much power to keep connected). I don't know if a 'magic wand' would be the best replacement, but as the Apple TV gets more sophisticated that little aluminium stick will need to keep pace.
So what do you think? Four years later are apps, a browser, and magic wand what the Apple TV needs?
Source: The Verge
