FROM SD TO HD
The pace picks up — here come movies and iOS
THE SECOND–GEN MODEL REPLACED THE HARD DRIVE WITH 8GB FLASH AND APPLE SAW SALES SOAR
THOUGH SALES IN the Apple TV’s initial period were reasonable, it took less than a year for Apple to rethink the whole concept. Apple TV Software 2.0 was revealed by an uncharacteristically humble Steve Jobs during the company’s keynote at the 2008 Macworld Expo. “We’ve all tried to figure out how to do movies,” he said. “And you know what? We’ve all missed. No one has succeeded yet. We tried with Apple TV. Apple TV was designed to be an accessory for iTunes and your computer. It’s not what people wanted. We learned what people really wanted was movies… And we weren’t delivering that. So we’re back with Apple TV take two.”
The new software ditched the Front Row–esque interface, replacing it with a more bespoke look, and removed the requirement for a separate computer; iTunes content could be downloaded in a newly–launched HD format directly on the device, direct access was available to YouTube, and functionality was added for podcasts and Flickr photo downloads. Sales tripled year–on–year, and tripled again by the launch of the 3.0 software in October 2009; a reshuffled, content– forward home screen aped the design language of iOS. Less than a year later, with home broadband speeds rising, high–speed Wi–Fi more common, and the widespread rollout of HDTV almost complete, Apple TV took the next step. Sort of.
GENERATION GAME
The second–generation Apple TV ditched its reskinned Mac OS X for a near– identical interface built on top of iOS 4.1, and swapped its Intel CPU for an Apple A4 ARM processor. It threw away the internal hard drive, which had been made redundant by the changed focus on streaming media, replacing it with 8GB flash. The archaic analogue outputs
were gone, in favor of a streamlined all– digital interface, and the plastic Apple remote of the first–gen was replaced with an aluminium version.
Sales soared, with the more modern take on the Apple TV far more satisfying than its predecessor, now supporting services like Netflix for the first time. It was beginning to define what the Apple TV would become. There were downsides, though: the second– generation Apple TV was locked to 720p playback, for example. While the interface could display in 1080i or 1080p, its content could not.
The third generation, gifted an upgraded A5 chip, launched in 2012, and brought Full HD to the Apple TV. An interface update, incorporating iOS– style icons and a Cover Flow–esque view dropped with it. And despite being one of the most significant upgrades the Apple TV had ever had, it was very much an “oh, yeah” moment dropped in by now–CEO Tim Cook at a March special event keynote.
The Apple TV worked better than ever, it was driving iTunes sales — but given that the newly–Retina iPad, the iPhone, and a string of new Macs were swallowing up the headlines, the Apple TV remained that hobby product. But its star was rising, and the next iteration would see Apple TV finding its groove.