If you pay attention to the official murmurings within Apple, then they will still swear that the Apple TV unit is merely a hobby to the company that doesn't detract focus from more important products like the iPhone and iPad. However, unofficially speaking, it seems that Apple are paying a lot more attention to the little black puck set-top box, something that will become more evident when the next software update goes public, thanks to the addition of the Bluetooth support that we have been expecting to see for quite some time.
As a company, Apple is extremely well-known for creating the fantastic OS X powered Mac, the iPhone, iPad and a number of other extremely popular mobile devices. Although those products have been, and will continue to be, extremely successful around the globe, there has been intense speculation over the last twelve months that Apple will breach their comfort zone and extend their portfolio by manufacturing an actual physical television set. Although there hasn't been any concrete evidence or nods of approval from Apple itself, a recent NBC News interview with Tim Cook could be the source of the biggest hint to date.
The talk of Apple delving further into the television market is something the blogosphere cannot seem to shake off. Analysts continue to reignite the fire, and although nobody seems sure enough to offer any specifics on the venture, it is widely presumed to be happening in the near future. Much like the iPad mini prior to a couple of months ago, not everybody is convinced this is something Apple will be doing just get, but undeterred, Apple analyst Gene Munster has once again delivered his projections on how many of the mysterious device he forecasts the Cupertino as selling.
The popularity of its product range, coupled with the colossal amounts of money exchanged in the purchase of said products, has made Apple a pretty strong target for fakery. China is one of the main sources of these bootleg products, and even though we're used to seeing copies of some of the higher-end Apple devices - iPads, iPhones and such, the latest product to be ripped from Apple's extensive roster is the Apple TV.
Although the Apple TV is still officially classed as hobby project for Apple that takes its place behind the likes of the iPhone and iPad, it is a piece of kit that is growing in popularity and prominence with more units shipping each quarter. Apple have showed recent signs of taking the Apple TV more seriously with the addition of streaming content such as the iTunes Festival and their own media event keynotes but until they add some powerful extensions and features, it may continue to live as the company's hobby creation. Thankfully, the jailbreak world loves to pay attention to unloved iOS devices and it now seems possible to control the Apple TV using basic voice commands.
Unlike devices like the iPhone and iPad that require software updates to push new content to the product, Apple have the ability to update the Apple TV home screens remotely and add new web-based content at will. Several keen-eyed Apple TV owners have noticed the appearance of the new Apple Events icon that is themed in similar fashion to the event invites that were distributed last week for today's press event that we suspect will be dedicated to the purported iPad Mini as well as being heavily focused on education. More on the event here.
If you are a registered developer on the official iOS development program, the time has come to head on over to the developer center and see exactly what Apple has in store for us, with iOS 6 GM for iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPod touch and Apple TV just been seeded on the Dev Center.
Apple has always been extremely quick to refer to the Apple TV as their "hobby" project whenever the little black box gets a mentioning at any kind of press event. When the second-generation Apple TV was announced and launched, I got the feeling that it was a result of damaged pride, with the company needing to prove that it could be a viable product after their initial soiree into the set top box market failure. Even though they have continued to develop the product, release a new and improved 1080p version of it, and dumped significant resources into it, they still publicly refer to the gorgeous little entertainment provider as a hobby.
New reports claim that Apple is giving the Apple TV another refresh, with DVR capabilities coming to the little black box according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to a report over at the Wall Street Journal, Cupertino, Calif. based outfit Apple is currently in talks with cable television networks in an attempt to utilize its Apple TV device as a proper set-top-box. Although once described by CEO Tim Cook as a "hobby" of Apple's, the gizmo has slowly but surely evolved into a decent product - one which now uses an A5 processor to pump out 1080p media to HDTVs.
