Paul Morris·

New Siri Remote Inspired By iPod Click Wheel, Says Apple VP

With the launch of a new and improved Apple TV, customers expected to see a revamped remote control to accompany the set-top box. What they didn’t expect, however, was a beautiful remote inspired by one of Apple’s most popular products: the iPod!

Apple’s VP of Product Marketing for Home and Audio Tim Twerdahl has used an interview with Express to give an insight into some of the companies new products and discussed the brand new Apple TV 4K and the second-generation Siri Remote.

As part of the design and ideation phase, it seems that the team wanted to provide an experience that was above and beyond what customers are used to receiving with standard remotes.

Once the company’s designers and engineers have come up with the design of the new Siri Remote, it was immediately evident that it was paying homage to the iPod and the team ideated on what could be achieved with such a product design:

Once we came up with this circular design we thought it looked a lot like the iPod quick wheel, so what could do that could really help people with their TV using an interface like that? The scrubbing of the video came as such a natural thing, professional editors often use these jog-style controls, which are quite powerful, and it’s really nice to bring this into people’s living room.

With the aim of making the overall experience better for users, Twerdahl talks about how all of the heavy liftings is done by the hardware and software in the remote and the Apple TV, which makes everything super-simple and seamless for users. This is particularly evident with the new Siri experience on the remote:

We want to make it super easy to engage with Apple TV regardless of your comfort level. If you hit the Siri button on your remote and don’t say anything some suggestions will cycle through on the TV screen to help you understand the kinds of things you could say. By moving the Siri button to the side – where it is on your iPhone – we’re hoping that also reinforces with people as you can do exactly the same kind of things on your iPhone as your Apple TV remote.

It seems that Apple has definitely taken the future into consideration when designing the brand new Apple TV 4K but has also focused heavily on the consumer. Products that delight and are simple to use are always going to be popular.

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